Andromeda's Trials- Book Two
by iampotterlocked
Summary: Everything should have been going well since the whole James fiasco down in Phoenix. After all, nobody knew Meda's secret, and this was the best shot at normal she'd ever had. But when the Cullen's leave Forks, and Percy disappears, life as she knew it is turned upside down. Meda has to balance family, both mortal and immortal, friends, and...love? Book two in the Andromeda Series.
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is, chapter one of book two! I cannot BELIEVE it! thank you for your continued support and well wishes. This is book two in my Andromeda Jackson series, I recommend reading book one if you want to know what's up. or not, I suppose it's all up to you, really. again, thank you, and please give feedback, positive or negative, I love hearing from readers. thank you!**

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My leg jiggled as I waited for the plane to land. Annabeth was due at the Seattle Tacoma International airport any minute. Charlie encouraged Percy and me to invite Annabeth here for a week before we all left for camp together. She said in the iris message that she'd been suspended twice over the school year- she'd been around two suspicious fires. We were all excited to have her over, but Percy was nervous as well, a fact I found hilarious.

"Here you go," Charlie said as he and Percy brought over strawberry smoothies.

"Thanks," I said. "She'll be here any minute."

Percy smiled, and I poked him. He flushed beet red and I laughed.

The plane started unloading, and then I saw the blonde hair, and orange shirt.

"Nabs!" I said and ran up to her. She had a backpack and her usual ponytail.

"Meds!" she said and we hugged tightly.

"Hey," Percy said.

"Hey yourself," Annabeth said with a smile.

"Hey both of you, arm's length apart, I'm too young to have a niece or nephew," I said. I wedged myself between them and we walked over to Charlie. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but she also turned pink.

"Hello Annabeth, nice to meet you," Charlie said.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Swan," she said.

"Charlie, please. So I hear you're a daughter of Athena?" he asked as we made our way back to the car.

"Yes," she said. She knew that I told Charlie everything. "I was in New York, last summer."

"Well, I'm glad you're all right," he said. I'd told him all about it.

"Thank you," she said. "I like him," she whispered to Percy and me.

"I like him too," I said. "That's why he's my dad."

The drive to Forks from Seattle was long. Charlie was tired, so eventually Percy and I had to take turns driving. I got picked for the last leg of the trip, and I may or may not have gone over the speed limit. I was sure Charlie wouldn't say anything, though, even if he was a cop.

"Here we are!" I yelled as I parked in the driveway. "Everybody up!" I yelled again. I honked the horn for good measure, scaring some birds.

"Geez, did you really have to do that?" Percy asked sleepily.

"Are you awake?" I asked loudly.

"Yes, now you can stop that!" he said loudly back.

Annabeth laughed. "I missed you guys," she said.

When we got in the house, it was practically evening, so we just had dinner and went to sleep.

"I get the couch, Annabeth gets my room, and Percy will stay right where he is," I announced with a glare to Percy's general direction. He rolled his eyes, but didn't make eye contact with me or Annabeth.

I laughed. "Oh, this is going to be fuuun!" I said.

The next five days passed like that. Annabeth said her dad had been promoted, her brothers were acting as evil as ever, and her stepmom was alright. Even though she'd been living in California, she said that she hadn't had much trouble with monsters.

"Oh, we haven't either. I was thinking they'd be coming left and right, but it was only a few. There was a drakon, and that one took a while, but it hasn't been too bad," I said.

"That's weird. Two children of the big three living together should cause a lot more trouble than that," Annabeth said.

"Maybe it's just because Forks is tiny," Percy said, trying to be helpful.

"Maybe, yeah," Annabeth said.

We didn't go back to that topic, but I could tell she was worried. And because she was worried, I was worried. We took her to La Push, and to Port Angeles. She really liked the beaches and forests, something she didn't get to see often. Annabeth jokingly complained about the clouds and the weather, and as an early birthday present, I got her an orange umbrella.

"It's so you can look dry with style," I said. She immediately struck a silly pose, and we cracked up.

There was a knock at the door and I went to answer it. Surprisingly, it was Alice and Carlisle. Alice was grinning.

"Hey," I said. I let them in. "I've got a friend over, would you like to meet her?" I asked.

"I'd love to!" Alice said. I had a feeling she already knew that, though.

I let them through to the kitchen where Annabeth and Percy were laughing about something.

"Could you not?" I asked. "We have esteemed guests!"

"Oh I'm very sorry," Percy said seriously.

Annabeth started giggling again. That was just weird, I've hardly ever head her giggle before.

"Well Annabeth, this is my friend Alice Cullen, and her dad Carlisle Cullen," I said. I saw her eyes widen a bit as she took in the vampires and their perfectly symmetrical faces. Maybe it also had something to do with the word "friend."

"Nice to meet you," she said after a short pause.

"It's wonderful to meet you too, Meda's been talking about how excited she was too see you for a while," Alice said.

"You didn't!" Annabeth said, looking at me.

"Of course I did, you're my best friend ever in the world!" I said back.

"You've always had such a way with words," Percy said, staring at the celling.

"Just like you've always had a way with idiocy, brother dearest," I said back.

"That was painful," he said, clutching his heart.

"Well I just wanted to ask if we could throw you guys a going away or early combined birthday party tomorrow," Alice said. "Meda told me that her birthday's in August, and Annabeth's in July and we're leaving for Denali in a week, so…" she trailed off.

"Oh I didn't think you were leaving for another two weeks, that's what Edward said, anyway," I said.

"No, we're leaving a week early, and we're staying for another month. We haven't seen them in a while, and it's kind of like making up for lost time," Alice said. "So will you come?" she asked. "Please say you will, I've already got decorations picked and everything!"

"Well what do you say, Nabs?" Percy said jokingly. She elbowed him and reminded him that only I was allowed to call her that. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Alright, that's really nice of you," she said cautiously when she saw that we were all looking at her.

"I told you she would say yes!" Alice said.

"She's really excited, as you can tell," Carlisle said fondly.

"I'm sure she is," I said. Alice had a thing for parties, she was naturally social. Even though she surprised Annabeth, I saw that Annabeth was already beginning to like her. It was difficult to not like Alice.

"I'll go tell everyone!" Alice said triumphantly. "Thank you, I just won money!" she said as an afterthought to Annabeth.

"What?" Annabeth asked, confused.

"Oh, everyone bet me some money that you wouldn't say yes, and you did, so I won!" Alice said.

"That's good, I guess," Annabeth said with a small smile.

"Thank you very much, and it was a pleasure to meet you, Annabeth," Carlisle said.

I showed them out, and turned around. "Thanks!" I said to Annabeth.

"So you made friends with supermodels?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, they all look like that, actually," I said.

She looked a bit weirded out.

"Hey, they're actually really nice," I said. "Well, except for Rosalie, but she'll come around. After all, I am amazing," I said.

"You're full of it, you know?" Annabeth said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked innocently.

She rolled her eyes. Usually she'd have elbowed me, but since I swam in the Styx, she hasn't.

"What do I need to wear?" she asked.

"I'm sure that'll be fine, they're cool," Percy said.

"Well that's good, that you made friends," Annabeth said.

"You haven't?" I asked.

"No, not really. I have some acquaintances, but not really friends." She said.

"Well I'm sure Meda and Edward are the best of friends," Percy said with a grin as he walked up to his room.

"Watch it," I said. Annabeth looked at me with wide eyes.

"You…" she said, starting to grin.

"What?"

"You have a…" she started.

"No!" I said. I held up my hands and repeated myself.

"Why not?" Annabeth asked. "If you like him, and he likes you, it's easy!"

I looked at her with the look of, "are you serious right now?"

"Well, you know, if you wanted to, you could make it work out," she amended. "His name's Edward?" she asked.

"I'm busy," I said. "I don't have time to think of those things."

"You should, you deserve to be happy," Annabeth said sincerely. "Maybe you're just overthinking things."

I rolled my eyes and laughed out loud. "No, really, I promise you I'm not," I said.

The next morning we were all a bit nervous. Percy and I prayed and hoped that nothing went wrong. But I told Percy about killing James, so if something happened, odds are that I could do something about it. I had my pencils, watch and my trident was in the truck under a bag I had packed for emergencies. I left the bow and arrows at home, because that would be harder to explain. On the other hand, Annabeth was only fretting about making a good impression on our friends.

"If they passed the Jackson test, they're worth the effort to me!" she said.

I hugged her tightly and let her borrow a nice shirt, and she wore her nicer jeans. I drove the truck to the Cullen's, and Annabeth made jokes about the gas mileage, color, and state of the truck the entire way.

"Seriously, shouldn't it be in an old trucks home?" she asked.

"She doesn't mean that," I said to the dashboard. "Having fun there, bro?" I asked Percy. I kicked him over to the back seat, and he wasn't too happy about it. That way, I could keep track of their lovey doveyness. It was cute, but got kind of irritating after a while.

"Of course, my dearest sister," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Shut up!" I said. Annabeth laughed, and commented on the pretty forest. It was cloudy and a bit misty, but I still appreciated the beauty myself.

Annabeth gasped a bit when she saw the Cullen's house, we had to explain to her that they were rich.

"I can see that," she said.

"Come on, they're actually really nice. Give them a chance, okay?" Percy said.

Annabeth nodded mutely. "Wow," she said after a moment.

"I know, but like Percy said, they're really great. Carlisle, Alice's dad is a doctor at the hospital. He's a good one, no other doctor's offered me counseling after seeing an x-ray of my arm," I said. "Long story," I replied to Annabeth's look of shock.

As we got out of the car, Annabeth was staring at the house in awe. I knocked on the door, but before my fingers could touch the door, Alice pulled it open. "They have arrived!" she announced over her shoulder. She hugged Annabeth and Percy, and then thanked me in a whisper as she hugged me.

"So how did you and Percy meet?" Alice asked Annabeth as we walked inside.

"That's actually my fault," I said. "Something I've been regretting for the past four years."

"That's harsh," Percy said.

"We go to the same summer camp, and Meda and I've been friends since we were eight, or seven," Annabeth said.

"That sounds like fun. Meda said she can shoot a bow, can you do that?" Alice asked.

"I'm barely mediocre," Annabeth laughed.

"So was I, but there's this thing called practice," I said.

Everyone laughed and introduced themselves. I could see Annabeth was nervous, but Jasper helped her calm down a bit. When Edward introduced himself, Annabeth grinned and looked at me. I kept my face bland and raised an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes and didn't let me spoil her fun.

Edward walked over to me, and asked if I was enjoying my day.

"Yeah, it's really been great. Tell Alice thanks for me, would you?" I asked.

"Of course," he said. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Okay, I don't know if I can answer it or not, but I'll try," I said. I had a feeling it had something to do with Annabeth.

"Your friend, I can't read her mind, it's like yours," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. We were talking quietly, but I was sure that everyone except Percy and Annabeth could hear us.

"She's silent. I don't get anything," Edward said. "That's just strange, I could hear everyone except you and your brother, and at first I thought it might be genetic, but I can't hear her either."

"Oh that might be it. Annabeth's actually a cousin," I said.

"I thought you said she was Percy's girlfriend," Edward said.

"Oh she is, I mean, they are, but she's also a cousin through my biological dad's side. It's safe to let them date, though," I assured. I didn't really feel like going into the technicalities of godly DNA.

"Oh, that would have an explanation," Edward said.

"That's the best I could come up with," I said.

"Presents!" Alice announced.

I noticed that by the cake, there was a small pile of presents.

"First things first, is the cake chocolate?" I asked jokingly.

"It's actually vanilla with chocolate filling," Alice said. She looked worried.

"I guess that'll have to do," I said dramatically.

"I'll give you my filling," Percy said. He was practically blasphemous, because he never really liked chocolate.

"Meda's kidding," Annabeth said.

I crossed my eyes at her, and she laughed. Having Annabeth around was nice; she was like my sister as well as my best friend.

After us, I mean, the more human of the bunch grabbed some cake, Alice started handing out presents. Percy had a large box, and he opened it to find a giant blue gummy bear. I'd told Alice about Percy's love of blue food, and she must have taken my advice.

"Interesting," he said, turning it upside down and looking at it intently.

Emmett and Jasper laughed and even Rosalie cracked a smile. I was giggling along with Annabeth; Percy took a bite out of the ear and chewed.

"Yummy," he said through a mouth full of gummy bear.

"Meda, it's your turn!" Alice said.

I pretended to be dreading it, but I opened the package and when I saw what was inside, I gasped. "Oh thank you," I said.

"It was our pleasure," Esme said.

Inside a small box was a photo album. It was green and had Andromeda embroidered in purple letters on the cover.

"This way you can take pictures and remember everything," Alice said.

"Thank you," I said again. Jasper handed me a new digital camera to use to fill up the album. I snapped a picture of Percy eating the gummy bear, and he crossed his eyes for the picture.

"Here you go Annabeth, I wasn't too sure about what to get you, so I hope you like it," Alice said with a hint of nervousness.

"I'm sure I'll like it," Annabeth said. Alice said that it was a scarf with dahlias printed on it. It was pretty, and I thought Annabeth might like to wear it when she went to one of her father's lectures that were open to the public.

Annabeth sighed in annoyance.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Then I saw it. She had a paper cut that was getting to the red side.

"No!" Edward roared.

I flew to Annabeth and tackled her, breaking the fall with my body, but she landed on her side anyway. It was just so fast. Percy lunged toward us and pulled Annabeth away. Jasper was really close, his eyes filled with hunger and beyond reason. He was snarling, in a predator's crouch. Everybody but Carlisle had hunger in their eyes, but Emmett had his grip on Jasper, and was holding his hands behind his back. Edward had his body in front of me, but Jasper was looking at me over Edward's shoulder.

I straightened up and looked Jasper in the eye. I wouldn't let him hurt Annabeth; I'd even kill him if I needed to.

"Back. Down. Now." I said, letting my power seep into my voice.


	2. Chapter 2

**AHHHH here's chapter two. I hope you all enjoy it, and I am surprised and happy at the positive feedback I've gotten so far. Of course, if you see any room for improvement, please PM me or something. Thank you!**

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The thing about my power was that at that moment, I could feel it. I could feel the water in the stream a half mile away; I could feel the pull of the water in the plumbing of the house. I itched to pull it out, and wrap Annabeth in it protectively and run. I was a daughter of Poseidon, and nobody was going to hurt my friend.

"Meda," Percy said. He tugged on my arm urgently. I took a deep breath and calmed down. I wouldn't do anything, I couldn't let them know. I relaxed my hair trigger on the water and turned to Annabeth.

Emmett and Edward and Rosalie wrestled Jasper outside. Carlisle rushed over to Annabeth and helped her up.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "You did well, Meda," he said to me.

I gave him a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a bit bruised," Annabeth said quietly. She pressed on her index finger with the small paper cut with her thumb, and I saw her knuckles turn white.

"Hey," I said. I pried her fingers open and she relaxed. Her eyes were filled with fear and I helped her through some deep breaths. "Carlisle, could you check to see if she's okay?" I asked him.

"Of course, I was planning on doing the same thing," he said. "This way, Annabeth, if you please," he motioned for her to follow him.

"What happened?" she asked in a small voice as we followed Carlisle to his office. I noticed that she was limping, she had landed on her hip, and I felt guilty, because I should have broken her fall, it wouldn't have hurt me.

"You'll be alright," was all I said.

"Carlisle's good, this was just a misunderstanding," Percy said encouragingly. He held her hand, and for once, I didn't object. She looked like she needed it.

But what was I going to do? This was my fault, I should have just told Alice no, now I either had to tell Annabeth everything or make up a lie. I didn't want to lie to Annabeth, but I'd heard the stories Edward told me. Humans, or in this case, anybody with a beating heart who knew about the vampires were killed by the Volturi, the closest thing to a monarchy the vampires had. I didn't want to lie to Annabeth, but if it meant her life, I would do my best to protect her.

"Please sit down," Carlisle said to Annabeth once we reached his office.

Annabeth sat down nervously, clutching Percy's hand. I smiled at her encouragingly, but I knew it didn't help much. I was as scared as she was which probably didn't help.

Carlisle checked her heart, lungs and eyes. He then politely asked to see where she landed on her side, and I winced when I saw it. Her hip was turning a dark purple, and Carlisle prescribed ice and rest. I winked at Annabeth, I had some nectar and ambrosia in my truck, so she would be resting for a couple hours, tops.

"What are you?" Annabeth asked. My heart sank and I felt like I was going to throw up.

"We're like you, Annabeth," Carlisle said after a pause. "Jasper is like you too, he just has some difficulties. We're all trying to help him the best we can. I imagine he's feeling ashamed."

Edward knocked on the door, and because Carlisle was finished with Annabeth, I let him in.

"Is she alright?" he asked. He seemed more distant than usual.

"I'm fine," Annabeth said.

"You're doing well, Annabeth." Carlisle said. "You're like Meda and Percy."

"What do you mean, 'like Meda and Percy?'?" I asked sharply. Percy jumped at my tone of voice. The Cullens couldn't have guessed or found out, could they?

"You took this well, as she is," Carlisle said, puzzled at my question.

"I'd like to go, now," Annabeth said. I could see that she was taking this well- too well. Either I had to tell her everything or she was going to break down soon.

"Alright," Percy said. He helped her out, his arm around her waist.

"Keep your hands off the swimsuit zone!" I said as they went down the stairs. Annabeth laughed, I guessed out of nerves and Percy grinned at me.

I turned around to Carlisle. "I am so sorry," I said. "If I'd have known…"

He held his hands up. "No matter, it could have been worse. You acted very quickly," he said.

"I know how to run fast," I replied nervously. "Anyway, if I can figure out a way to not tell her, I will." I said.

"Thank you," Carlisle said.

"I'll walk you to your truck," Edward said, holding the door open for me.

As we were walking down the stairs and out the door, my mind was spinning.

"So you leave tomorrow?" Edward said.

"Yes," I said. That was a good spot in the suddenly bleak future. I could be myself at camp.

"I hope you have a good time," he said. "Do you mind if I say goodbye before you leave?"

"Sure," I said. "Have fun up in Denali, Alice told me about it."

"Thank you. See you tomorrow," Edward said.

I walked back to the truck and found Percy in the driver's seat and Annabeth in the front. I scowled as I climbed in the back. Annabeth was munching on some ambrosia I had stored in the glove compartment, and Percy was rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I don't like this," I stated as I buckled my seat belt, gesturing to Percy and Annabeth sitting close together.

"Had a feeling you wouldn't," Percy said tiredly, but with a grin.

The ride to Charlie's house was quiet. Annabeth made offhand comments about the pretty forest, but I could tell that she was otherwise preoccupied. Percy turned on the radio, and I focused on not getting sick. I was absolutely terrified, but underneath that, I was angry. I tried to let the anger go, though. It was a vicious cycle, and I was sick of it. I could put blame wherever I wanted, but the end result would stay the same. It was, after all, my fault. I climbed out of the truck and was ready to help Annabeth down when she held up her hands.

"It's gone, see?" she said. I looked, and sure enough, the bruise was healed. She was just a bit sore, limping as she went to the house.

I had a feeling she was going to say something, but I waited until she was in the kitchen.

"Annabeth, I-" I started to say. She held her hand up.

"I don't want to know," she said.

"But Annabeth," Percy started.

"I don't want to know," she said, looking at me. I understood what she meant.

"No! I'm not going to do that to you!" I said.

"Please Meda, you have to. I know I wasn't supposed to see that, and I trust you," she said seriously. Annabeth wanted me to use the Mist to mask the memories of what happened today. I could make her think that nothing happened, that it was an ordinary day, and that was it. But I was terrified. What if I did something wrong and hurt Annabeth? I could make her think that she tripped over something and landed on her side. She would never know.

"Annabeth, please, I can't," I said. I sounded tortured.

"Why?"

"What if something happens? Can we please just forget it ever happened?" I asked.

"That's the thing, Meda! You have to make me forget!" she said. "Because if you don't, I'm going to need to know what happened, and I know that I'm not supposed to know!"

"What if I fail, Annabeth? What if something goes wrong, and you're wrong, because of me?" I asked her loudly.

"Meda, you've done this to mortals before," Percy said quietly in the pause that followed my outburst.

"Annabeth isn't a mortal! What if I screw this up and something goes wrong?" I said.

"You won't, because you can't," Percy said seriously.

"Please, Meda, please," Annabeth asks, almost begs. It was that tone of voice she so rarely used that broke my resolve.

I made my decision. "I'll do it tomorrow morning before we leave," I say.

"Thank you," Annabeth said seriously.

"You'll do well, Meds," Percy said. "We trust you."

That kind of makes it worse, but I didn't say anything. That night I packed anxiously and we all piled our bags in front of the door. I went to bed, but I toss and turn. I'd decided that I'll make Annabeth think that she tripped and fell, Jasper never freaked out, but that Carlisle did give her a check, but just prescribed ice and rest. I wander downstairs and go to the backyard. I feel tired but at the same time I'm wide awake. I'm downright terrified something will go wrong with Annabeth, and I could never forgive myself if that happened.

I focused myself and gathered the mist around me. I made a tree in the yard appear and when I walked up to it, my fingers had to push through the bark before I could break the illusion. I was good at this, I knew, but because I had to fix Annabeth's memories, I had doubt. And I could not afford to doubt. I made the tree purple, blue and green, I made it have flowers, and I made it have snow on the branches and no leaves. I gained my confidence and by the time it was one in the morning, I was finally tired.

Some part of me was hoping she'd put it off, but I didn't have such luck.

"Meda?" Annabeth asked pointedly as I finished my breakfast.

I sighed. "Alright," I said.

Although it might have been a bit melodramatic, I put my hands on Annabeth's head, and I pushed. I went to the memory of the party, and I made it so she tripped and fell on her side. There was no crazy vampire who wanted her blood, just the memory of a large house and kind inhabitants of the house. I left the good impressions the Cullens had left on her, and that we left smiling and joking about the rain. My work was flawless, really. She didn't even remember asking me to change her memories.

After I finished, I felt a bit tired, but also relived. Nothing bad could happen to her now, because of the vampires. Now, it would just be normal half-blood stuff.

There was a knock at the door, and Percy answered it.

"It's for you, Meds," he said.

I walked over to the door and wasn't surprised to see Edward there. "Hello, I just wanted to say goodbye," he said. He smiled at Annabeth and Percy.

"It was nice meeting you," Annabeth said with a smile. Edward looked a bit mystified by it, but smiled again once I got to him.

"Hey thanks for coming by," I said.

"Actually, I have something I'd like to talk to you about," he said. "Do you have a couple minutes?"

"Yeah, sure, what is it?" I asked.

"Could we speak privately?" he asked, looking at Annabeth and Percy, who were locked in a conversation over what to do with the remnants of the giant blue gummy bear. Annabeth wanted to throw it out; Percy wanted to preserve it as a national monument. Frankly, I was on Annabeth's side.

"Sure," I said. "Follow me." I trekked over to the beginning of the forest outside of Charlie's house. "What is it?" I asked. I had started to become a bit worried, probably due to the fact that Edward was fidgeting. He never fidgeted.

"We're leaving," he said.

"Why now," I asked, confused. Edward was 17, and he had told everyone that he was 17, so I didn't see what the big deal was. "You could wait another couple of years before people started asking questions."

"Carlisle is claiming that he's thirty four, but he can barely pass for thirty, we have to move on, it's time," Edward said.

"So is everyone going?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied shortly.

A wave of sadness hit me. Alice was gone too. Kind Jasper, funny Emmett, and loving Esme and Carlisle, gone. Even Edward, as good as he was, was leaving. Suddenly, I was beyond thankful that I'd never told them. Who knew who they'd blab to?

But I had one more question.

"Is this about what happened yesterday with Annabeth?" I asked. "Because I know she won't say anything, she can keep your secret."

"But what if that was you or your brother? We would have put you in danger because of what we are," he said. "I'm thankful that your friend won't say anything, but that doesn't change what happened. We have to go," he finished hardly.

I sighed, and rubbed my eyes. I had to leave soon in order to catch the train to New York. "Fine," I said. I was suddenly so tired. "Fine."

"It's better this way, really," he said. "This way, nobody can be put in danger because of who we are. Jasper, especially, is still working on overcoming his…taste for human blood, and we can help him better if we leave."

"Alright," I said, resigned. "Tell Alice goodbye for me," I asked him. "She and the rest of your family are really the first friends I've made in a while."

"Of course and may I ask a favor in return?" he said after a pause.

"Sure," I said.

"Please be careful," he said. "Don't do anything reckless."

"Alright," I said.

"I promise that this will be the last time you'll ever see one of us," he replied. "You'll be safe."

I wanted to laugh at that. How can I be safe when I have to carry around knives all the time? How can I be safe when every monster out there wants to kill me?

"Well then, goodbye," I said, rubbing my eyes again. I was so tired.

"Goodbye," he repeated after me.

There was a sudden light breeze, and then he was gone. I walked back to the house where Charlie had loaded up the car and everyone was waiting for me. The train station was in Olympia, a long drive, but not as long as the drive from Seattle. I told everyone that the Cullens left, and Charlie said that he had heard this morning from a friend that Carlisle had accepted a job in LA. I wanted to laugh at that, the sunny LA climate was one place they would definitely never go. I was silent on the way to the train station, something that Charlie seemed to understand. He knew how difficult it was for me to make human, well, almost human friends. And he'd approved of the Cullens, something that made my life easier.

As we boarded the train, Annabeth and Percy thanked Charlie. Percy gave him a handshake, and thanked him for letting him stay the school year and inviting him back.

"I'll see you soon, dad," I said and hugged him tightly.

"You too, Meds. Take care of yourself, okay?" he asked gruffly.

"You know me, I can't make any promises," I laughed as I punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"You've done well, and I'm really proud of you, I want you to know that," he said, surreptitiously wiping something out of his eye.

"Thanks dad. Love you!" I said as the train started picking up speed.

* * *

The two and a half months I spent at camp were…. There were just no words for it. It was like coming home, and finding home again and again. There were many new cabins being built for the less powerful gods, and the Hermes cabin was getting a bit on the empty side, because now it was mostly filled with just the children of Hermes, instead of all the unclaimed children. The gods were keeping their promise, and if a child over age thirteen entered the camp, they were almost immediately claimed. Tyson visited, of course, and I started teaching an introduction to combat class for the newbies. I kept getting better and climbing the rock wall, and I caught up on the news from the Pegasus from the stables. Annabeth and Percy celebrated their first anniversary, and I celebrated by dumping some seawater on them. Annabeth was soaked and a bit put out, but Percy stayed dry, something she was very angry with him for.

The only awkward part of the summer was Percy and my birthday party. He insisted we go see Sally and Paul for the party, as was tradition for him. My relationship with Sally was strained to say the least, she was more of a stranger to me than anything else, but for Percy's sake, I always made small talk with her and acted politely. She made a blue cake that was delicious, and it seemed as though she was happy, so that was good.

At the end of the summer, we all got a bead with the symbol of every god with a child at camp painted on the bead to celebrate the acceptance of all the gods. I could see the small trident, and ironically, the owl was painted next to it.

"So, last day," Percy said on the night of our last day at camp. We were both taking the train back to Olympia, and we had a couple days off before school started.

"I know, time flies," I said.

Annabeth came up to us to say goodbye, we had to leave early in the morning, and I told her goodbye and left her and Percy alone. Nothing bad had happened to her because of the Mist, something I was so grateful for.

Percy came into the cabin late.

"If you and Annabeth were canoodling, I hope you're ashamed of yourself," I said.

"Geez Meds, you're worse than mom, you know that?" he said.

"Whatever, loser," I shot back.

When I woke up at three in the morning I knew something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. My head spun, and I wanted to throw up, and my hands were clammy and shaking. I swung my legs over the bed and tiptoed to the bathroom, careful not to wake Percy. I had to hold onto the counter to find my balance, but it felt like there was a weight on my chest and I couldn't breathe.

"Percy!" I said. "Percy, help!"

No answer. I crawled over to his bunk and shook him.

"Percy!" I said.

My hand hit a mattress.

There was no Percy.

I started screaming, and couldn't stop until Chiron came.

And even then, I still screamed.

It was difficult to stop.


	3. Chapter 3

I was late getting back to Washington State. Percy was nowhere to be found. Nico said that he hadn't died, which was something, and I knew that Percy was fine; I didn't know exactly where he was, but I knew he wasn't dead. That, at least, gave me hope. But I did have to break the news to Sally and Paul, who didn't take it too well. There were iris messages made all over the country to anyone that could help, but Percy was nowhere to be found.

I wasn't taking it too well either, and neither was Annabeth. She was going partially insane with worry, and I just felt sick most of the time. Before I met Percy, I remember feeling like there was something missing, and after I met Percy, I felt whole. Now, having Percy taken from me, I felt like only half a person. I would have nightmares where I saw Percy die, and I woke up screaming. I was so tired all of the time, but I never could sleep because of the dreams. We had to report his disappearance to the police, which was fun to explain, but still necessary. What if he turned up somewhere?

I went from depression to anger frequently. During the anger, I would decapitate dummies faster, shoot a bow with more accuracy, and throw knives harder, trying to let out some of my rage. During the depression, I was exhausted from the minute I woke up in the morning. I always felt like there was cement on my hands and feet, and it was an effort to get anything done.

I missed the first week of school, and when I pulled into the parking lot of the high school at six in the morning, waiting for the school to open, I just wanted to cry. I remember my first day here with Percy, how nervous we both were, but how we got through it. But this was worse, because I didn't have any friends to talk to. Some friends they were, I supposed, because they had left me. When I needed them most, they left me. I tried to sleep in the truck, but I woke up about half an hour later, frozen with terror.

The dream was something I was slowly becoming used to. I was all alone, and I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'd always be alone. There was a woman's voice, too, always saying "wait, wait, he's sleeping," but wait for what? Wait for whom? Who was sleeping? The other dream was one where Percy was dying, but that usually made me wake up screaming. I was sure that everybody had heard the news about Percy, and the thought of being bombarded with his name made me sick.

As the flow of traffic into the school increased, I reluctantly got out of the car and went to the front office. I could feel the stares of others, or maybe I was just imagining it.

The woman at the front office asked where my brother was.

I told her the truth.

"I have no idea."

* * *

I couldn't eat much, because if I did, I'd throw up. It felt like there was a gaping hole in my soul, and nothing would make it better.

Once I was washing the dishes and dropped a glass. For some reason, I started crying, really crying for the first time in years. That's how Charlie found me when he came home; I was sobbing and holding the broken glass.

"Come on, Meds, lets clean it up," he said in a soft voice. "I miss him too, you know, but he's strong, I know he is, and he loves you, and I know he's trying to come back."

"How can you love him?" I asked my voice raspy. "You've never met him before he came here."

"I love you, and you love him. Therefore, I love him," Charlie said. "And because I love you, you need to be strong, okay?" he asked.

I wiped my face, smearing a shard of broken glass across my cheek. Charlie looked alarmed at first before he remembered it couldn't hurt me. That look on his face made me smile for the first time in a month.

"Now you have to be strong, alright?" he asked me.

"Alright," I said. And I picked myself up.

* * *

October

* * *

November

* * *

For some reason, when Sally picked me up from the train station, it made me smile. I'd been talking to her more since Percy had gone, and she really wasn't as terrible as I thought. I'd built up a Sally in my head that was probably more exaggerated than reality. I'd painted her to be some monster for giving me up, but she hadn't given me up, I'd just disappeared. Like Percy, in a way. The more I thought of it, it seemed like godly interference. And that made me feel better, because if a god had done this, Percy was safe, for the time being. The woman in my dreams kept telling me that he was sleeping, and after some time, I thought that maybe she meant Percy was sleeping. That was good; if he was sleeping that meant he couldn't be running around the country and screwing stuff up like normal.

But when I got to camp, there were more problems. Drew, the head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, was turning out to be really terrible. She was also a charm speaker, so I always blasted my iPod whenever I was within shouting distance of the cabin. All of the campers in her cabin were terrified of her, probably because she could switch out their mascara or something, I didn't know. And the Hephaestus cabin was having problems too. Inventions were going haywire, and the dragon Beckendorf had tamed was nowhere to be found. The cabin had been setting traps, but the head of the cabin was badly injured in a confrontation with the dragon.

Things were a bit crazy for the first week, and then things got insane.

I was trying to balance camp with work at a ballet studio, when one day at five in the morning, I was woken up by pounding on my door.

"Meda, I think I know where Percy is," a wild eyed Annabeth said as I sleepily opened the door.

I'd never woken up faster in my life. As we suited up with Butch, a son of Iris, we were briefed by Peter, Annabeth's half-brother. He said that Gleeson Hedge, a satyr stationed in Colorado, had sent out a message for help. He was being attacked by storm spirits who wouldn't die, and had two half-bloods under his care.

"I was told in a dream that the hero with a purple shirt and one shoe had the answer," Annabeth said.

"You mean he'd know where Percy is?" I asked. It had been months, but I hadn't lost hope at all.

"What other answer could we be looking for?" she asked.

We sped off to Colorado, the Pegasus bending the distance easily. When we arrived, it looked like all hell had broken loose. There were screaming mortals, and three teens who were looking absolutely terrified. Those were the half-bloods more likely. Then Annabeth locked eyes on the hero with one shoe.

"where is he?" she screamed as she ran up to him.

The poor kid looked terrified.

"who?" he asked.

"where is he?" Annabeth asked again, more calmly.

"we don't know who you're talking about," a girl with unevenly cut brown hair said.

"he said we were demigods," a Hispanic boy said, looking like he was going to be sick.

"what are you talking about? Where is he?" Annabeth screamed to the sky. There was only the boom of thunder to answer her.

"where's who?" the girl asked.

"my brother, Percy Jackson. Do you know him?" I asked.

"never heard of him," the girl said. The other two shook their heads.

"where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?" I asked calmly. I didn't want to scare them. I don't remember having the introduction to demigods talk with anybody, probably because I started attending camp as a four year old. This was a way of life for me; my childhood had been filled with weapons and secrets, not parents and normal friends.

"he was fighting a storm spirit thing and he…"the Hispanic boy trailed off.

There was another boom, and I saw the clouds coming closer.

"In the chariot, now!" I said and pushed the kids to the chariot, and Butch helped them in. Annabeth hurried over.

"they're going to attack soon, hurry!" she said.

The Pegasus took off, and everything was fine. But then,

"fire!" the Hispanic boy yelled.

I doused the wheel in water from the nearby cloud and had to protect the boy from getting a knife from a spirit. For some reason, I was stabbing and stabbing, but they came right back. I saw that we had entered the camp boundaries, but the chariot was swerving and bouncing around.

"aim for the lake!" I yelled, and focused my power on the lake. I imagined it turning soft as a mattress or trampoline, allowing us to float and bounce peacefully.

We did, and the Pegasus scampered back to the stables. I pushed everyone to shore and dried them off. The nymphs pulled the now ruined chariot to shore, then went back to the water.

We did the crash course introduction for them, but my mind was elsewhere. I was focused on the boy with the purple shirt. He said that he had no memories, so Butch took him to Chiron. Because Chiron could take care of it, I showed the new kid around. The girl wasn't claimed yet, so that was something to look forward to.

The Hispanic boy, Leo, turned out to be a son of Hephaestus. Oh goody, I thought to myself as I introduced him to his cabin. He was funny, and carried himself like a lot of the other kids I'd met in foster care.

"Everyone is at the forge," Will, the head of cabin said after Leo was welcomed to the cabin.

"Maybe Nyssa's finished with my knife," I said hopefully. To make her feel better, I'd asked for a mid-length knife, but she'd been 'working on it' for the past two weeks, more than twice the normal time.

"Maybe," Will echoed me sadly. He was really taking the curse, as the camp had started to call it, seriously. He blamed himself for it.

"what's this I hear about a curse?" Leo asked as I showed him to the forge.

I had to explain about Beckendorf's death, something I still felt guilt over, and how the inventions were going haywire, especially the dragon. He seemed sad about the fact that we were planning on killing the dragon, but what else could we do? It was a danger, and needed to be stopped.

"how many?" I asked after a brief pause in the conversation.

"how many what?" he asked, looking a bit panicked.

"how many homes did you run away from?" I asked. "I ran away from ten before I was adopted. I was also discharged from five for fighting, which was totally unfair."

"uh, six," he said, looking guilty.

"relax, we're all the same here, pretty much," I said. I had to tell him about the ADHD and dyslexia, which made him look more hopeful.

"Fresh meat?" Nyssa asked as I entered the forge.

"new brother," I said, half sternly. Cabin nine acted tough, but they were a good bunch. In the eight years before I was claimed, I'd hung around a lot, and everybody joked I should be an honorary member.

"Meda, look!" Chris, a nine year old said. It was a small helicopter made out of rubber bands. But as soon as he launched it, rubber bands flew everywhere, smacking everyone in the face or back of the head. He looked crestfallen.

"hey, don't give up," I said. "Better luck next time, okay?"

He nodded, tears in his eyes, and he hugged me tightly. "Hey bud, watch the ribs, okay?" I asked.

"Hey Meda, try this out, please?" Harley asked. It was a battle ax, sharpened to perfection. It was nice, but…

"Dude, totally not my style," I said, twirling my pencils between my fingers.

"please, help me out?" he asked. He looked desperate, and who was I to judge? I couldn't get hurt by anything here anyway.

"alright," I said. "I'm the next Johanna Mason," I joked before facing the plastic dummy. I swung and cut the dummy's head off, and when I went for a swing for the chest, the plastic cut, but so did the axe. It split right down the blade.

"oh shit, sorry!" I said, picking up the pieces of the blade.

"Figures," he said darkly. "It's not your fault."

"Hey everyone, dinner's ready!" a new kid from the Apollo cabin announced to the forge. He turned right around and put as much distance between the forge and himself as possible.

Everyone dropped what they were doing, almost happily, and went to go get dinner.

"Come on," I said to Leo.

"Can I have a minute?" he asked.

"Sure," I said. I was positive that it was a lot to take in for an older person. I followed everyone to the pavilion, giving Chris a piggyback ride. Then I remembered. "Hey I forgot my pencil," I said.

"Be careful, Medy," Chris said. When I first introduced myself to him, he thought I said my name was Medy, and he called me that every now and then.

"No promises!" I said with a grin as I jogged back to the forge. I saw Leo hunched over a worktable, and there was a light coming from his hand. I moved silently around him, and saw that his hand was on fire. Fire users were rare, extremely rare, but I felt sorry for him. He'd gone through the foster system, and here he was, not able to tell anyone what he could do. I had to keep my water use a secret for years before I was claimed.

I tugged at the water in the barrels that was used to cool down hot steel, and wrapped water around his hand without warning. He jumped, and looked like a deer in the headlights.

"I won't say anything," I said as I picked up my pencil and put the water back in the barrel. "But let me tell you, fire users are rare, really rare, and I'd be careful if I were you. You're powerful, but dangerous." I warned. He looked terrified. "But you seem like a good person. I'm sure you'll be fine," I said. I grabbed his shoulders and marched him to the door. 'Now come on, time for dinner, and you won't believe how cool it is."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that reviews are appreciated muchly. is that a word? well now it is. of course, thank you for all of the support, it is much appreciated. there, that's the correct one.**

* * *

So apparently Jason, the hero with one shoe, was the son of Zeus. He was a bit off his rocker, saying stuff in Latin, and throwing around an electrified javelin that made my hair stand on end. But he couldn't remember who he was, much less his last name, so it was hard not to feel bad for the guy. Hera was also meddling again, something which was to be expected. I'd never really liked her all that much, so I tried to avoid her as much as possible. But things were fine otherwise.

Until Rachel opened her mouth. Well, until the oracle opened Rachel's mouth. It was still really creepy to watch, but it was better than the mummy any day. But what she said explained a lot.

"_Child of lightning, beware the earth, the giants' revenge the seven shall birth, the forge and dove shall break the cage, And death unleash through Hera's rage."_

That explained stuff such as why there were much fewer than expected monsters, and why the monsters weren't dying. There was something coming soon, and I was sure I wasn't going to like it. And the giants- that was downright terrifying, but I pushed it off. I could deal with that later. So since they had arrived at camp, Leo had disappeared, Jason was a child of Zeus, and Piper was a daughter of Aphrodite. That was unexpected, because I'd always found the Aphrodite kids a bit annoying, but Selena was cool, and Piper seemed cool too, so I guess it balanced out.

Leo tamed the dragon, and named it Festus, which in Latin meant happy, so the quest was off to a good start with happy the dragon giving everyone a ride. Before they left, I asked, well, begged was more like it, for them to tell me anything about Percy's whereabouts. Nico was keeping me posted, and the huntresses of Artemis were out looking as well, but this quest was the closest we'd gotten in months for a sign of Percy.

After they left, though, the other campers seemed a bit more on edge than usual. I had more people than ever willing to train with knives, swords, and even hand to hand combat. Although the threat of the dragon had lifted, the prophecy for the quest, especially the part about the giant's revenge had really creeped out some people, me included. Annabeth spend a majority of her time worrying, and looking at either blueprints for a project or Daedalus' laptop. She had told me that about two months before, she had been shut out of Olympus, and the gods had fallen silent except to claim children. I hadn't really been paying attention to that, with the vegetarian vampires taking up more of my time, but it was worrying. Tyson said that they only got orders from Poseidon on what to make anymore, instead of visits like normal.

The time passed quickly, the quest was only for a week after all, they had the deadline of the winter solstice, and I could remember my first quest with Percy and Annabeth and Grover to get the master bolt back to Zeus. It seemed as though the borders around camp were weakening, because every now and then a stray monster would wander through, not many, only about one or two at a time, but still, the camp was on edge. The weather bubble we had around camp was weakening as well, because one day in late December we all woke up to a hard downpour. The Demeter cabin had to help regrow the strawberries, and they were all out for the rest of the day.

But a week after the trio left, I was eating dinner by myself at the Poseidon table when suddenly there they were. Leo threw up and Piper looked like she was going to, and Jason just looked incredibly pale. They were all rushed off to the Apollo cabin.

"Where's Percy?" I asked them as they were being helped down from the tables.

I didn't get an answer. I started yelling at them asking for Percy or where he was. Chiron told me to calm down and that we'll discuss it tomorrow, but I was yelling, Annabeth was yelling, and eventually Clarisse had to wrestle me back into the Poseidon cabin and forced me to drink something, which I realized too late was a sleeping draught. The last memory I had before I fell asleep was me cursing like a sailor at her. Being the daughter of Poseidon, I have to say I can always think of a new and innovative curse.

The next day, things were tense. I decided to cut the three some slack, if they didn't have Percy with them, maybe, just maybe they found out where he was. Chiron called a meeting at the camp once Leo had been discharged from the infirmary. I was hurriedly packing for Forks, and I was just missing a pair of jeans when Drew, the head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin knocked on the door, announced the meeting, and informed that Piper ("lying little witch!") had just taken over the cabin. I laughed at that, it was about time. Leo had been promoted to head of the Hephaestus cabin, and I was happy for him. He reminded me a lot of myself, and I liked him.

When I got to the Big House, I saw the Apollo and Hermes cabin had teamed up to set half a dozen ping pong balls on fire, which I kindly put out, dousing everyone who had something to do with it for good measure, and Butch was stuffing pencils up a sleeping boy's nostrils. Everyone calmed down when the three started telling their story, and what happened with Hera being trapped, and Gaea rising.

"Ugh we can't catch a break," I said.

"I know, and I'm just starting my first quarter of college next week!" a girl from the Athena cabin said. Everyone glared at her as if to ask what was more important, saving the world or college, but secretly I was jealous. She got to survive to the end of high school, which was a miracle in itself.

"But where's Percy, have you heard anything about where he is?" I asked. I never got an answer the previous night, and I wanted one now.

"Well," Piper said, looking nervous. My heart dropped.

"But Nico would tell me!" I said, starting to panic. "I would know!"

"No, he's not dead," Jason said. "It's just that… I'm not actually a son of Zeus. I'm the son of Jupiter."

"Yeah, it's the same thing," I said, staring at him. "Jupiter's just the…Roman…form…" I said, and it was slowly sinking in.

"During the American Civil War, there was a war between the demigods," Chiron said. "The damage was so great that the god decided to separate their children into the children of the Greek and Roman gods so such events could never happen again."

"The Romans were more warlike and united," Jason said helpfully.

Clarisse looked interested. "So why don't we see each other on quests and such?" she asked.

"You do, but your memories are wiped so nothing can happen again." Chiron said.

"Yeah, the Civil War was awful, wouldn't want a repeat," some boy from the Athena cabin said. He was new, and I hadn't had the chance to meet him yet.

"So Hera believes that both camps need to come together for the war with the giants," Rachel said.

"It's in California, isn't it?" Annabeth said. "That's why we're always told to stay away from California, specifically the bay area!"

"I don't know the exact location, but it is near mount Orthys, so they can keep an eye on it. How else could it have fallen during the battle of Manhattan?" Chiron said.

"You said it fell on its own!" I said, my loud voice making a few jump.

"No, I was there," Jason said looking like he was remembering something important. He rubbed the SPQR on his arm absentmindedly. "Hera said that the exchange was two ways. I was here, with my memory wiped, and now he's there."

I glared at him, feeling sick in my stomach.

"Percy's in the Roman camp, and he doesn't know who he is," Jason explained.

When I got back to forks, I felt sick again a lot of the time. I mean, I knew that Percy could take care of himself, but I was still worrying constantly. I'd had to make a lot of effort to act as normal as possible, for Charlie's sake, and at school I wasn't known as Meda Jackson the New Yorker, but Meda Jackson with the missing brother who everyone treated like she was going to break any minute. I'd also had to go back to sitting with the Mortals with a capital M, Jessica, Angela, Lauren, and crew. They were the most normal human beings ever who only worried about the next test and what they would wear to senior prom. I hated them because I wished I was like them, but I knew it would never happen in a million years.

Billy and Jacob were over every now and then, Jacob had finished his car because of the car part he was bribed with for the prom. He said that he and his friend were working on motorcycles to fix up and sell for a profit. He seemed impressed when I could keep up a basic conversation of car parts, I'd had to tell him that there's a car garage near my summer camp, and that I had a few friends I hung out with there, which while not exactly a lie, wasn't exactly the truth either. Billy seemed happy that the Cullens had left, but he didn't discuss them at all, something I was grateful for. I was constantly reminded that I had lost my brother; did I need to be reminded that I had lost friends as well?

I don't know why I was thinking about motorcycles and cars and mechanics while I was driving home from the library one day. I'd gotten a couple books and was taking the long way home when I saw the sign. FOR SALE, AS IS said the sign in front of two incredibly broken looking motorcycles. They were in front of the Porters' house, and in that moment, I connected the dots. I'd never had too many friends, mostly because my friends were my family, and I never wanted to explain the history of Greece to humans, but the few non demigods I was on good terms with meant something to me.

I knocked on the door, and recognized the boy with blond hair answer the door.

"Meda?" he seemed surprised.

"How much for the bikes?" I asked.

"You want them?" he asked, looking shocked. I was disappointed; I thought I just looked like the type of girl who'd ride a motorcycle.

"Well, no, I don't. I'm asking for them because I don't want them. Yes, I want them. How much?" I said sarcastically.

"Take them as is- mom told dad to move them out there so they'd get picked up with the garbage." The boy said.

Well that was nice, I'd saved myself a whole twenty bucks. The boy helped me load them into the truck, and I drove to La Push, and had to drive around for a bit to remember the way to Billy's house. Some nice kids pointed me in the right direction.

When I arrived, Billy seemed genuinely pleased to see me, and told me that Jacob was in the garage. His wheelchair couldn't navigate the bumpy ground to the garage, so I joked that for his next project, Jacob should make a paved walkway for him.

"Anyone here?" I asked.

"Hey Meda, how are you?" Jacob emerged from behind a car, he was changing the tires.

"Hey Jake, I actually have a surprise for you," I said a bit nervously. I'd never really given gifts to people who weren't Annabeth, and that was easy, she'd always been happy with a gift card to a bookstore.

"Really, what is it?" he said excitedly.

"I found some old motorcycles and I thought you'd like them," I said.

"Great! I could use some parts!" he said happily. It was easy to make him happy. He'd shot up in the past month or so. He informed me that he was six foot five. I was only five foot eight, so he often threatened physical harm teasingly.

I unloaded one motorcycle, and Jacob got the other one. He seemed genuinely surprised that I could lift one by myself, and I threatened physical harm against him.

"Hey, this one's actually going to be worth something if I fix it up a bit," Jacob said, sounding surprised.

"Then take it," I said.

"Are you sure?" he asked me.

"Go ahead. Consider it a late birthday gift," I said with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

**hey everybody, hope you're all well. I just wanted to thank all the people who have followed and Favorited the story. It really means a lot to me. Of course, feedback is appreciated, and if there's something I could do writing wise that would make the story more enjoyable, feel free to tell me. I've got the plot down pretty well, so no changing the plot, but I'm always open to suggestions.**

**Thank you!**

* * *

For the next couple of days, the school was abuzz with the news of giant wolves running around. Some hiker had been killed in an animal attack, so of course, like any small town, the news of the grisly story traveled fast. I knew that Artemis had some wolves in her pack, but they were well trained, and would never hurt mortals. Maybe it was what it was, a freak accident, I thought, and pushed it out of my mind. I had an advanced chemistry test to study for, and I wanted an A in the class.

I also spent some time every couple days with Jacob. He was a good kid, very enthusiastic about the motorcycles and was even happier when I could carry a conversation about the motorcycle parts.

He talked easily about school and his friends. He had two friends named Quil and Embry. They actually stopped by a few minutes after Jacob mentioned them, which was funny. The two boys were excited that I could carry a conversation as well, and we discussed the cost of repairing the bikes vs. the cost of dumping the bikes in the landfill. Quil especially seemed impressed that we weren't going to scrap them, and I joked about Jacob giving me free labor. I had to get back to Charlie early that night; it was my turn to cook dinner. After I left, I heard a whoop let out by one of the boys, followed by a dull thud. I laughed as I heard that, it was funny. Jacob was also good hearted. He understood my worry over Percy, and he also never mentioned the Cullen's, which I was grateful for. I could tell that the mood around the reservation had gotten lighter since they left, but I didn't want to think about it.

On weekend we went to the landfill and walked around in knee deep mud looking for some parts. Jacob seemed excited about the fact that we found some twisted scrap of metal, and was even happier I had no idea what it did. We didn't tell Charlie or Billy about what we were doing, they'd probably both have heart attacks, and Jacob said that Billy being in a wheelchair was bad enough; he didn't need to be in a hospital as well. We then drove down to Hoquiam for some more parts, and Jacob seemed surprised that there was really nothing worth talking about in my life.

"There's nothing going on in your life?" he asked incredulously on the way to Hoquiam.

No, my brother, who's a Greek half blood, is in the Roman half-blood camp with his memory wiped and by the way, I'm a daughter of Poseidon, I thought to myself. "No, not really," I said. "Your life's been a bit more interesting than mine, really. I like your friends, Quil's funny, and Embry always has a sort of permanent stank face," I said.

Jacob laughed at that. "I think they like you too," he said.

"That's good," I said, and we pulled into an auto parts store to get some more parts.

As soon as we got back to the garage, we dumped everything on the floor and I let Jacob look through the parts without interference from me. We still talked easily about the weather, sports, (I was not a good conversational partner about sports), and the news. Time passed quickly.

"Meda, Jacob, are you two there?" Billy's voice asked. He'd probably been dropped off by Harry Clearwater, one of the mutual friends of Charlie and Billy. They'd all gone up to Charlie's house to watch a game or something; I didn't know what the big deal was.

"Coming!" I called out.

"Hey kids!" Charlie said.

"Crap, we gotta go!" I said to Jake. Charlie would freak if he saw the bikes.

Jacob turned the lights on and we both walked quickly to the house, where we saw the beginning of a party in full swing. Charlie was standing under the cover of the porch to avoid the sprinkling rain, and Billy was behind him.

"Hi dad," Jacob and I said at the same time. We started laughing again at that, and Charlie looked relieved. It had been a while since I'd laughed, I knew.

"Billy invited us for dinner," Charlie said.

"A recipe for spaghetti, handed down from father to son for generations," Billy said with a grin.

"I don't think canned sauce has been around for that long," Jacob said with a smirk.

The house was crowded and noisy. There were some family friends I hadn't seen in years hugging me and telling me how much I'd grown. They congratulated Charlie on having "such a beautiful young woman" as a daughter, and he seemed to almost choke up for a minute.

"Do you need a Kleenex?" I asked jokingly as I was getting my serving of spaghetti.

"No, but they're right, you know. You are a beautiful young woman, inside and out," he said. I smiled at him for that, and the small worry that came with his words was easy to ignore, and I pushed the memory aside.

Harry Clearwater, a friend of Charlie who was famous for his legendary fish fry, was there too, with his wife Sue, who I'd never met before, and his two children. Leah was a year older than me. She was beautiful-perfect copper skin, glistening black hair, long delicate eyelashes, but she was incredibly preoccupied. She was on Billy's phone when we got in, and she never let it go. Seth, her younger brother, was fourteen; he hung on Jacob's every word, and was sure to interrupt us if he thought that Jacob was going to forget him.

The rain eventually broke everything up, and I drove Charlie back to Forks in my truck, and we discussed the events of the day. He seemed surprised when I talked about watching Jake work on the bikes, but when I told him about spending time in the Hephaestus cabin, he rolled his eyes and changed the subject. He always thought that less was more when it came to demigod business.

That night, I finally got around to answering a letter from Renee. She had been worried sick over me ever since I'd sent her an iris message sobbing about Percy's disappearance, but she didn't really bring up half blood stuff if she could help it. We did send each other letters back and forth though, usually about once a week. The letter said that she and Phil were going to Disneyland for another honeymoon, and that she had gotten another job designing the interior of a couple office buildings. I wrote back about Jacob and the party I'd just attended. There wasn't much else I could write about. I was getting good grades, but I couldn't afford to think about college.

I put a stamp on it and left it on my desk; I'd mail it in the morning.

When I went to sleep, I wasn't plagued with dreams of Percy dying, or me being alone. I was back in the Cullen's house, in the place where the two staircases joined together, and I was looking down on the space below. I was alone, and I walked down the right staircase. My steps echoed and I paused, listening for something else. I reached into my pocket for my knife, but there was nothing in my pockets. There was a rustle of cloth, and I turned around and looked up to the stairs. There was nobody there.

"What's going on?" I asked. I was scared, and my voice echoed in the empty house.

"You will need the allies in the homeland," a woman's voice said. "Secure the alliance and you have a better chance of defeating Mother Earth," the voice continued.

And then I woke up. I was covered in sweat, and I was clenching the sheet in my hand so hard my knuckles were turning white. I forced myself to take some deep breaths, and looked at the clock. Might as well start getting ready for school, I thought to myself. I showered and ate, all the while preoccupied. What did she mean by allies in the homeland? What was the homeland? Was it Greece? Leo had said that the Argo II would have to sail to Greece after we went to California to get Percy. Mother earth- that was easy. We all knew that Gaea was rising, probably taking a page from her husband Kronos' book, and that the two camps would come together to fight her. But the other camp was in California, far away from Greece.

I vowed that I would have to make more of an effort to be as normal as possible. I didn't miss the look in Charlie's eyes as I laughed at the party last night, and Renée must have been worried as well over how I was acting. Of course, I was sure she understood, but I was thinking that it might be a wasted effort. Percy was always protected more than I ever was. He had a mom, and I had foster care where I had to fight for a meal a day at times. He was always more lucky than I ever was. I knew that I would always feel like I was half a person without him, but we were working on finding him. That had to count for something.

For the first time, I noticed school. Not just the lectures, notes, and volleyball teams, but the people in it. I wasn't looked at too much, and when I was, it was with pity. At lunch, I noticed that some people were missing, and learned that it was because of the stomach flu. Angela, a quiet girl who hadn't changed, made a comment about the bears, or giant wolves running around the area. Lauren, a snotty girl blew her off. I remembered that I never really liked her. Lunch was something that had to be endured, tolerated. There was talk of graduation, and I needed some time for it to sink in. In about six months, I would be graduating. I smiled to myself, even a year ago, it seemed like such an unattainable goal and now it was within reach. The fact that I'd survived was celebration in itself, but survived and received a high school diploma…. I had to stop that thought. A lot could happen in six months.

The week ended, thankfully I had some homework to tie me over for about a day. Jacob invited me down to La Push on Saturday morning, and he worked on the bike while I tried to explain to him how to find the limiting reagent in a chemical reaction.

"I don't know how you can remember all of this," he said as he tightened a bolt or something like that. I handed him a wrench that would be better for the job, and he thanked me.

"I don't remember all of it, I just look at the periodic table!" I said, rolling my eyes.

"'I just look at the periodic table!'" he mocked me.

"Shut up, my voice is not that whiny," I said, throwing a pen at him.

"It is too!" he said, and mimicked me again.

I threw another pen at him, and the time passed like that.

That night was weird though. I had a dream about watching a man run from something. He was wearing battle gear that looked like it was in ancient Greece and his shoulder length brown hair was tangled with leaves and twigs. He was running on a leg that was bleeding badly, but he didn't seem to notice. He had various cuts and no weapon. Suddenly I heard a thunk and a scream. I looked around, but only saw forest. Then I looked back to the man. There was an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, and he was yelling in pain. Suddenly, another man was there.

"Why do you run?" he said in a voice like velvet with a smile. He was beautiful, with black hair, pale olive skin, and a perfectly sculpted face. His eyes ruined the illusion, though, they were blood red. He carried a bow in his left hand. It had an arrow ready on the string.

"Vampire," I whispered. The two men didn't pay me any attention.

"Please, please don't kill me," the injured man begged. He clasped his hands in front of him, but didn't look the vampire in the eye. He was tugging at the arrow in his shoulder, letting out whimpers of pain, and I felt terrible for him. I also noticed that they were speaking in ancient Greek, something I'd studied and could understand, speak, and read perfectly.

"But you put up such an interesting chase," the man said. He seemed very…detached, was the word.

"Please, do anything, but don't kill me, I don't want to die," the injured man said. This was strange, I never thought of death as something to be feared. Death was always a threat, but I wasn't scared of it. Besides, after I died, it would be like a nice break from saving the world day in and day out. As heroes, we're taught to avoid death, but if it is inevitable, it shouldn't be something to be afraid of.

"Isn't it strange that the greatest warrior in decades could be brought down by this?" the vampire asked. That was surprising, a great warrior never went unarmed, and although I did pride myself on knowing combat, I would never let an arrow through my shoulder stop me before. We were given two hands for a reason, I always thought. "A simple arrow, with the right amount of force behind it," he continued, looking at the arrow strung on the bow in wonder and ignoring the injured man's pleas.

"Please don't kill me, I don't want to die," the man kept begging.

"I will grant your request," the vampire said after some time. He looked like he thought about it.

"Thank you, thank you," the man murmured.

Before I could blink, the vampire had yanked the arrow out of his shoulder, and bit the man's neck. When he pulled away, there was blood on his mouth, and the man was screaming in horror. He screamed that it burned like fire in his blood.

The vampire smiled and laughed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey hey hey here's chapter six! I hope you all enjoy it, and hopefully you'll stick around until book three. yes, formal announcement, I'm planning on a book three. of course, homework and sicknesses are getting in the way of this, but I'm working on it. **

**Thank you!**

* * *

And that was just downright freaky. I was screaming my head off when I woke up, and Charlie splashed a glass of water in my face to wake me up faster.

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly. He'd put some salt in the water, so it gave me a slight energy kick. That was nice of him.

"Yeah, I just had a bad dream," I said, dazed. I looked around at the soaked pillowcases and blankets and put my hand out for the glass. He gave it to me, and I gathered up all the water into a sphere I held in my hand and guided the water back into the glass.

"Thanks," Charlie said. "Show off," he muttered and took the glass as I handed it back to him. I made a little bit of water fly out of the glass and smack him lightly in the face, getting his hair wet. "Did you have to do that?" he asked, pretending to sound annoyed but smiling nonetheless.

"Absolutely!" I said with a grin.

I'd finished all of my homework last night, and I decided to go to Jacob's again. Charlie seemed happy that he could go fishing with his friends, and didn't object to my leaving the house. When I entered the garage, I found the red motorcycle standing up, looking more like a working piece of machinery than anything else. The Harley sprint was standing up as well, although I could see that it needed some work still.

"Wow they look great!" I said. "They look even better than they did two days ago!"

"I get a bit obsessive when I have a project." Jake shrugged his shoulders. "Wanna try them out when they're done?" he asked.

I had to think a bit about that. I was originally going to give Jake both, but he insisted I take the other. I was planning on selling it, and finding a stealthy way to give the profit, if I got any, to Jacob. He was a good kid, and I was sure college was a possibility for him.

"Alright," I said. "Why not?"

He beamed and warned me that it would be a couple more days before they'd be ready to go. I didn't mind though. We planned on taking them out the next weekend. On Tuesday, Jacob visited Charlie's house, and we pretty much just worked on homework. He finally understood some of the basic chemistry vocabulary, and I was doing well in my advanced chemistry class. When Charlie and Billy got back from watching a game, Jacob and I were watching The Hunger Games, and I had some frozen pizza in the oven. Jacob though it was funny how I got so animated while watching the games, especially when I was screaming at the TV that the movie never really included Katniss losing her hearing.

"Why do you get so worked up about it, anyway? It's just a movie," Jacob complained.

I stomped up to my room, grabbed the books, and threw them at him. "Read the books!" I yelled at him. Charlie thought that was hilarious.

On Wednesday, Mike offered to watch a movie with me. I asked him if it was a date, and he looked away and coughed. I told him where he could shove that idea, but accepted. It might be nice to take a break and try to pretend to be as normal as possible.

The worry about Percy was constant, and something I never got used to. Sometimes in the garage I would turn to the side to crack a joke to him, and then I would realize that he wasn't there. That hurt the worst. When I was younger, if I felt nervous, I would start picking at my skin with my nails. It was a terrible habit, but sometimes, I would find myself doing it again, absentmindedly. It wouldn't show anymore, and I was thankful that as a fifteenth birthday gift from Selina, she sent me sleeves that I could wear under my half sleeve shirts so nobody could see my arms. I had scars from when I was really little, back then I would pick and pick to the point where I bled.

On Saturday, Jacob announced that the bikes had been finished, and ran perfectly. He said that he'd already shown them off to his friends who were very impressed. Jacob and I loaded the bikes into my truck, and he gave me directions to where we could practice. On the way there, we mostly chatted about school, but I saw a figure jump off the cliff into the ocean below.

"oh my gods!" I yelled and stepped on the brake.

"what?" Jake asked.

"that guy just jumped off the cliff, and he didn't even have a shirt on!" I yelled. Was I going to have to call an ambulance? On my _cell phone? _

Jacob laughed. "Meda, they're cliff diving. It's fun. They're jumping off the higher one, but most of us jump from the lower one," he explained. "It's recreation."

"you jump too?" I said.

"yeah, it's a rush," he said. "but they're insane. Probably trying to show off how tough they are." He sounded really disgusted.

"who are they?" I asked as I watched another person jump off. He was doing flips in the air and ended with a perfect dive.

"The La Push gang," Jacob said. He actually sounded kind of disgusted. "Really big guys, but they don't do drugs or anything, they're all about tribe pride, and they call themselves the 'protectors,'" he said.

"weird," I responded.

"they're always showing off, too. Like the cliff diving thing," Jacob continued. I'd never really heard him go off like this. "Sam was supposed to go to college, but when he didn't, it was okay with the council. But when my sister turned down a scholarship to get married, they all pitched a fit."

"that's strange," I said. "what's so special about him?"

Jake just told me that I could pull off on the shoulder of the road. It was empty, and there were no cars passing us. "They're starting to treat me different, too," he said after a pause. "he looks and treats me like I'm going to join his gang or something. And Embry is freaking me out too. He missed a week of school, and now he won't even talk to me or even Quil anymore. And he's following Sam around like a puppy. He never wanted anything to do with them, and he was on the cliffs today," Jacob said.

Well that was just "weird," I said. "is there something I can do?"

"how about you unload your bike?" Jacob asked with a smile.

Within five minutes I was on the bike, and Jacob was instructing me on how to use it. He went over each part, and I just focused on keeping my balance. I had to let go of the clutch slowly, and I was surprised when it started to move. I just told myself that it was a horse, and that helped to calm me down a bit. When the bike lurched forward, I tipped off it, and Jake had to come and kill the engine. I was laughing too hard to talk much, and pretty soon he joined in.

After some time, I got the hang of it. I could go about twenty five miles an hour, but I thought that after about an hour of driving, I had enough for the day. Jacob, on the other hand, was zipping along the road pushing sixty miles an hour. It was getting dark anyway. The motorcycle was fun, but I thought that Jacob was a bit crazy at times. He would sometimes let out a whoop and gun the engine to insane speeds. It was fun to watch him; he just seemed so… free. And I would be lying if I didn't say I envied him. He was so free, and had so few worries, except about Sam and his gang.

I kept having dreams about that man though, which was a bit unnerving. It wasn't every night, but sometimes, I would just see that scene where he would be bitten by the vampire and I would wake up, still hearing his screams. I had a feeling that that was important somehow, but I couldn't figure out why it was so important. Charlie woke up at three in the morning one day to find me angrily throwing knives at a target. He didn't say anything and went back to bed.

Time began to go more quickly, which was saying something considering my grandpa was the titan that could control time. Leo and the rest of the cabin would sometimes send me an iris message every six weeks or so, telling me about the progress on the ship. He was a good kid, and probably did that to remind me about the mission we were going on. I also think that another part of it was that I didn't, I don't know, freak out and stab him to death after I found out that he was a fire user. We left in late June, around the summer solstice, but at the same time, I didn't want to think about it. It was like I could hear the clock ticking down.

Tyson also said that he was having decent success hunting or tracking Percy. He had Mrs. O'Leary with him, and he was downright terrifying whenever he got angry or sad, so I really didn't worry about him too much.

I was getting better at the bike; sometimes I would even hit fifty miles an hour. Charlie still didn't know, and although I could tell that Jake was scared about Embry, he was trying as hard as possible to push it out of his mind as well.

"Happy valentine's day," Jacob said one day when he came up to work on homework.

"Oh no, I completely forgot," I said. He handed me a fifty cent box of candy, and I made both of us ice cream sundaes as a snack. I also invited him to a movie. Angela and Mike had been on my case for forever about going out sometime, and Charlie was traitorously encouraging me to go as well. He agreed enthusiastically.

So when I came home after a tiring and tedious day at school, I was surprised to see Jacob there, not in the usual truck he had, but in the VW Rabbit that he'd been working on for a while. We smiled and chatted about it, although personally I was curious as to how he could work on that and the bikes for a while at the same time.

Mike came in his car, and announced that all the other people either had plans or had stomach flu. Jacob offered to drive us in his new car, and mike agreed reluctantly. They decided to go see an action movie. I had to buy Jake's ticket, and when we got in, there were already explosions and almost hilariously fake deaths going on.

Jake and I laughed at the bright orange blood, but my laughing was halfhearted. I could tell the difference because I'd seen the real thing many times over. Mike was silent, glaring at the screen, so I left him alone. Then suddenly he ran out of the theater. I really didn't want to follow him, but the movie was kind of getting on my nerves. I ducked out, and Jacob followed me.

"I'll go in there and see if he's in," Jacob said and went into the men's bathroom. I sat down in a chair and stared at the celling.

"He's in there alright," Jake said as he exited, shaking his head. "And from the sound of it, he'll be in there for a long time."

"Maybe he has that stomach flu," I said, closing my eyes and sighing.

"What a wuss," Jake laughed.

"Hey now, don't be mean," I said. "He can't help it if he's sick."

Mike exited the bathroom at that moment, his face looking almost grey, and he was sweating quite a bit. "I think I've got that flu," he said, his voice shaking. "I didn't even watch the movie."

Jacob asked for an empty popcorn bucket, and Mike sat in the back gripping it and heaving every few minutes. He refused going to the hospital, and when we got back to Charlie's, we all had to do a juggling act so he would get home. I had to drive Mike to his house, and Jacob had to drive me to Charlie's, and then he had to drive himself home. Jacob seemed happy overall, though. The chilly winter air didn't seem to make any difference. I was shivering in my jacket, but he had a t-shirt on.

"I know it's early, but I should probably go home," Jacob said. "I'm not feeling well."

"Go home right now," I said, faking sternness. "Do you need to take a can of soup?"

He laughed. "No, I feel fine, just…strange." He left in the cold night with the windows rolled down, and I felt vaguely worried.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone. So I was recently asked about my updating schedule, and I have to say I don't really have one. I usually just update when I finish a chapter. But if anyone would like a schedule, please feel free to contact me. I'm also thinking about a Percy Jackson/Lux novel crossover, so let me know if you're interested in that. **

**Thank you for reading!**

* * *

The drive between Forks and La Push was about twenty minutes. After he left, it could have taken Jacob twenty minutes to call and say that he made it home safe. But it had already been a day and Jacob hadn't called. I was so worried I decided to risk it. I dialed Billy's number. It rang once before he picked it up.

"Hello?" his gravelly voice said.

"Hi Billy, its Meda," I started. "I just wanted to make sure that Jake was alright, he left last night saying he wasn't feeling too well."

"No, he's…sick," Billy said. "And it looks like it'll take a while. I'm sorry."

That was weird. Why would he apologize for his son being sick? "Oh that's alright; tell Jacob get well soon for me, please. He must have gotten the stomach flu from Mike," I said.

"I'll tell him that. Goodbye, Meda," he said and hung up. That was rude of him.

The next day Charlie told me that school had been canceled. There were lots of kids getting sick from that stomach flu, and whenever too many kids are sick, the school has to shut down for some deep cleaning. So pretty much all I had to do was watch TV and sleep. Maybe I could force myself to look at that terrible English paper I kind of threw together the other night. But like most teenagers, I procrastinated and watched TV instead. Sometimes my intelligence astounded me. Charlie had to leave for work early that morning, and he was muttering about bears and wolves as he left. The phone rang and I answered it when I saw Billy's number.

"Hello?" I asked. I suddenly had terrible images of Jake in the hospital or dead. I've heard that for some people the flu can be fatal.

"Meda?" Jacob asked. His voice was very broken.

"Oh my gosh you sound terrible!" I said. "Oh I shouldn't have asked you to go to the movie, I'm so sorry!"

"This isn't your fault, and I'm glad I went," he said. "But I don't think this is the stomach flu."

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" I asked.

"I just need some more time." He sounded like he was begging. "But I'll be fine, I just need more time."

"Alright," I said, at a loss of what to do. "Get well soon."

"Goodbye," he said abruptly, and hung up the phone.

That was the last time I heard from Jacob for about a week. After four more days I couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey dad?" I asked.

"What is it?" Charlie asked urgently. I felt bad for that, I hardly ever called him dad, and he must be worried.

"Could you call your friend Harry on the reservation, I'm really worried about Jacob," I said. "It's been a while and he still hasn't said anything about getting better."

"Of course," he said understandingly.

Charlie did call his friend, and found out that harry had been in the hospital recently for chest pains. He seemed especially worried about that, so it took some time for Jacob to be brought into the conversation. Apparently Billy had taken him into a hospital for mono, and had a strict no visitors rule in effect. I decided to wait another week or two before I called Jake again. School opened up after being closed for two days, and although some people were gone, most everybody was back and happy to be able to keep food down.

The teachers on the other hand, were happy to give us all test after test. It seemed like they were trying to get us. Charlie, of course encouraged me all the time to put time into school.

"Few more months, and you'll be graduating," he said in a mix of pride and wistfulness. I did tell him about my nonexistent college plans, and he understood, but seemed sad.

My grades, after some time without Jacob or Percy were stellar. I only had to try at math, everything else came pretty naturally. I wasn't looking forward to a long weekend without Jacob or any friends. So about a week and a half after Jake left and didn't call back I pried my eyes open and braced myself for another long and slightly boring Saturday.

But I didn't have a boring day in store for me, I was sure. There were silver, almost glowing and pulsing thin threads that lead out my bedroom door. I bent down and tried to pick it up, but my fingers passed right through it. I went downstairs and saw that it went out the front door as well. Charlie was rooting around in the freezer and taking out a package of frozen cheese.

"What are you doing?" I asked, looking from the thread to Charlie.

He looked surprised and jumped. "Harry and I are going fishing, since it's not raining. Do you want me to stay here though?" he asked.

I looked back down at the floor at the silver thread. Obviously Charlie couldn't see it. "No," I said quietly, shaking my head and looking at him with a tight smile. "I'll be fine here."

"Well if you decide to go out, stay out of the woods," Charlie said. "There was another death of a hiker a little ways east of here."

"I will," I promised.

As soon as he left I ran up to my room. This was something related to half-blood stuff, I knew. I grabbed my bow, trident, pencils and as many knives as I could carry. Was it too much? I took a minute to think about it, and ditched the bow. I kept everything else though. I ran down the stairs following the thread. I saw that it went down the front steps, onto the driveway, and down the street as far as I could see. I went back into the house and got my car keys and followed the thread onto the freeway. After about thirty minutes, I could remember the way vaguely. This was the way I drove when Edward wanted me to go to the meadow.

After I got there, I killed the engine. I took a deep breath. I didn't think so much about what I was doing here, or why I needed to come here. I focused on making sure all my knives were within easy reach, and climbing out of the car and locking it. The trident was in my backpack. The stupid thread went into the woods and I followed it, crunching some dead leaves as I went. I walked for about an hour and a half, and a sense of wrongness got stronger and stronger as I went deeper into the woods. The thread was still there, never disappearing, always twisting in one direction and showing me where I had to go. Then I saw the meadow up ahead. I rushed forward, anxious to get it over with, and stepped into the clearing.

When I looked behind me, the thread had disappeared. I wanted to scream with frustration. How could I get back? Then my stomach dropped. What if the thread disappeared because I wasn't going to go home? I looked around frantically and focused on breathing. For the first time, I noticed the state of the meadow. The green leaves and beautiful flowers had all died, and everything was dead. Then I saw the figure across the clearing. Dark skin, and a face too beautiful to be human, it was a vampire. The vampire walked slowly toward me, and I could recognize it.

"Hello Laurent," I said evenly. He didn't have Victoria with him, which was probably a good thing. I'd have a difficult time killing both of them at the same time. Maybe this is what the thread was about.

"Meda?" he asked, looking puzzled. "I didn't expect to see you here," he went on.

"I live here," I said in a hard voice. "And I thought you went to Alaska."

"I did, but I came here after some time. I was surprised to see the Cullen place empty," he said, looking at me and gauging my reaction to their name. I noted that he didn't look any different, and rolled my eyes internally. He was a vampire, why would he change in the year since I saw him last?

"Yeah, they left over the summer," I said.

"And did they leave you behind?" Laurent asked curiously. "Weren't you some sort of pet of theirs? And what about your brother?"

Oh of course he had to mention Percy. Lie, lie, I told myself. I couldn't have another vampire try to follow up on what James was going to do after he promised to kill me. "My brother… this past summer, he was in a car crash, and …died." Gods those words hurt. Even thinking about Percy dead, or even lying about it made me want to vomit. "And I'm not a pet, thank you." I said those words icily, and he seemed surprised by my tone. "So, how was Alaska?"

"It was different. The dietary restrictions were difficult to abide by, and sometimes I cheated," he said with a smile. I noticed his eyes were blood red.

"That's nice," I answered. "But I do have a question."

"Ask me anything," he said, holding his arms open like we were friends.

"Did Victoria ever find you?" I was wondering where she was.

"Yes, she did. I actually came as a favor. She won't be happy about this," he said, putting a tone of regret into his voice.

"About what?" I asked.

"Me killing you," he said simply. "You see, your Edward killed James, so this is fair. A mate for a mate. Simple."

"Hold up," I said, backing away and holding my arms in front of me. "First off, why does everyone assume we were dating? Just because he has man parts and I have lady parts does not mean we're a match made in heaven, thank you!" I said. "And secondly, you are so wrong about James." I laughed once. "And third, you are _not_ killing me." Because I'm going to kill you first, I promised silently.

"Really," he asked, and then paused. "But I should let you know now, that this isn't personal. It's just thirst," he said and shrugged. "But I promise it will be quick. You won't feel a thing. Victoria wanted you to suffer, but I'm not so cruel."

I rolled my eyes and shifted my weight downward. Here we go again, I thought. I didn't bring out my knives yet, I needed the surprise.

"You'll fight me?" Laurent asked, disappointed. "Then it will hurt."

"Oh get on with it," I snapped at him.

He raised his hand slowly, and I shifted my weight to duck, but then his eyes grew wide and he gasped. "I don't believe it!" he said in a whisper.

I looked behind me and straightened. So apparently all the stories were true. That was ironic, so the myths of ancient Greece were true as well as the rumors that started up a month ago. Standing in the meadow was a pack of huge wolves. Their shoulders were roughly my height. The first wolf, the one that was the point of the V they formed, was snarling, and showing a row of sharp teeth. I relaxed my stance. I could take a wolf on better than I could take a vampire. There was a snap of a twig, and Laurent was backing away from the wolf, his face a picture of horror. That was weird; a vampire vs. a couple of wolves wasn't something he should be afraid of. The wolves were beautiful and deadly, but beautiful all the same.

Then Laurent ran away. The wolves followed, barking and snarling, and then I was alone. I ran back to the truck, tripping and stumbling all the way, and started the engine and went home as fast as I could. When I got back, Charlie had already gotten back from fishing.

"Meda?" he asked worriedly as I slammed the door and took my shoes off.

"I saw them," I said. "I was in the woods, and they're not bears. They're wolves. There's about five of them."

"I told you to stay out of the woods!" he said sharply.

"I had to go," I said. "I saw a thread…" I trailed off when I realized how crazy that sounded.

"Is it something to do with the…?" Charlie waved his hands at me vaguely.

"Yes, it is," I said, rolling my eyes at how he would never actually say the word half-blood.

"Well stay out of the woods from now on," he said. "I'll call the station."

I had to lie a bit about where I was, I told them that I was on the trail instead of near the meadow. It was probably a bad idea to send humans around the area where I last saw a vampire. I ate dinner without tasting it and went to sleep.

I dreamed about the vampire in ancient Greece again. The injured man had screamed for about three days straight, and his voice was shot by the end of the first day. I saw the days go in fast forward. The days and nights seemed like minutes. The old vampire just watched, but didn't say anything. He had dragged the injured man to a cave, and it was very secluded, I doubted a human could hear his screams. After what seemed like a few minutes of watching the injured man writhe around some more, he suddenly stopped. I noticed that I couldn't really say the man was injured anymore. He had healed, although there was some blood on his clothing still. The vampire looked at him, and grinned when the man staggered to his feet.

"Thirst," he whispered, grabbing his throat.

"Come," the older vampire said. It was night outside, and they both looked to the sky. "This is your life now," he told the young vampire seriously. "Hunt."

They went into the forest, and then I saw the clearing up ahead. Both of them kept to the edge of the forest, and I saw a small village was in the clearing. "No!" I said, but they couldn't hear me. "You can't kill these people!"

"Look at that one there," the older vampire said, pointing to a young woman getting water from a well. I noticed that she looked tired. She lowered the bucket and was working on pulling it up slowly. The young one rushed forward, but the old one threw his arm out and pushed him back down onto the ground with a boom. "Wait!" he said sharply.

The young woman jumped at the sound, sloshing water over the bucket. She hurried, trying to fill up the bucket and get inside, but the young vampire had already rushed forward, evading the old one. The woman screamed once when she saw him, but he broke her neck with what looked like a twist of his wrist. When he drank, he seemed to calm down a bit, and when he finished, he threw her limp body away and stood up.

"Better?" the old one said sourly.

"Much," the young man replied. Then he started laughing, standing over the body of the first person he had killed. "I win! I win! You can't touch me!" he screamed like a maniac toward the sky. He was there, cackling for a minute, smiling like a lunatic, and I was so scared for the people in that village. "You can't touch me anymore!" he kept screaming.

Then he looked towards me, with that grin still on his face, and I felt true fear.

"And you'll be next!" he said and lunged for my throat.


	8. Chapter 8

**Oh my gods, I am so sorry for not updating sooner. it's the two weeks before finals, and school is kicking me down. I had this chapter done a few days ago, but I didn't want to publish something half as good as it could be.**

**anyway, thanks!**

* * *

When I woke up, I didn't feel scared. I knew that I was having the dreams for a reason. Being at the Cullen's empty house, the first dream about the vampire, and the second dream, this was happening for a reason. I just needed to figure out why. Well the first part of the equation was easy. Vampires had been around for a long time, and will stay around for a long time. But why did I need to know this? That question turned over and over in my mind, and I stared blankly at the ceiling trying to figure it out.

"Meda!" I heard a voice say with happiness. The only person, no, being, person was too loose a term, who ever talked to me like that and who was willing to wake me up at six in the morning had to be…

"Hey Tyson," I said, still tired.

"Meda, I have good news!" he said, smiling. I saw through the Iris message that he was in a forest, and there was a harpy behind him reading a book. Oh goody, I thought. Let the lunacy begin.

"What is it?" I said, smiling patiently.

"I have found Percy!" he said.

Well that woke me up faster than a bucket of ice ever could. "Where, when, where is he, let me talk to him!" I said frantically.

"Well, he is on a quest with Frank and Hazel," Tyson said sadly. "But they are almost in Alaska!" he added, trying to cheer me up.

"Oh, that's good. Is he alright?" I asked.

"He is leading the quest, and they're getting the eagle!" he replied. Sometimes I had to wonder if Tyson ever ate a shroom before talking to me. It's so unnatural to be happy all the freaking time. "But I had to leave now, and get back to camp. Now get to class, big sister!" he made shooing motions with his hands.

"Tyson, it's six in the morning, I don't have class for a while yet," I said, smiling tightly and nodding, trying not to have a meltdown with Tyson watching. "But who's that?" I asked, pointing to the harpy.

"Ella is pretty," was all he said, turning beet red. His eye looked away, anywhere but me.

"She is," I said. "Have you heard from Nico yet?" I asked. He'd left to search for the Roman camp about a month ago, and I hadn't heard from him since. Nobody had heard from him.

"No, we haven't. But I'm sure he's alright, Nico is strong," Tyson said thoughtfully.

There was really nothing else to say. "Well, thanks Tyson. Tell Ella I said hi," I said. I ended the call quickly and screamed at the top of my lungs.

"What is it?" Charlie said, barging into my room.

"He's in Alaska!" I yelled, throwing a book at the wall. Charlie seemed at a loss for words. "Freaking Alaska! Out of ALL the places that IDIOT had to go, he chose ALASKA! Well, now you know why Annabeth calls him Seaweed brain, I sometimes wonder if that's all that's BETWEEN HIS THICK SKULL!" I punctuated insults to Percy with another book to the wall, and when I ran out of ammunition, I threw pillows instead.

"What are you talking about?" Charlie asked.

"Tyson just called to say that MY IDIOT BROTHER IS ON A QUEST WITH ROMANS IN ALASKA!" I screamed.

"What's so bad about Alaska?" Charlie seemed mystified.

"THERE'S TITANS IN ALASKA!" I yelled.

"Well, there's also such a thing as being truant at school, and I don't think you'd like that either," he said.

I calmed down. "Sorry, Charlie, I didn't mean to freak you out."

"No, it's not every day your half human daughter wakes up the world screaming bloody murder about Alaska," he said with a smile.

But I had more than just Percy to worry about now. Laurent said that Victoria was hunting me, and she thought that Edward killed James. I didn't know the first part of tracking of vampire. I had a difficult enough time tracking humans and half-bloods. I was on edge more often, between worry about Percy, Jacob, and Charlie. What if Victoria got to him to get to me? Charlie could see that I was worried. He put it to worry about Percy, but I didn't say anything about Victoria to him.

The week passed, and I was unusually jumpy. At any small sound I would leap up in the air usually with a knife in hand, scaring Charlie. Then one day, it hit me. I knew what was going on with Jacob. Sam Uley had gotten to him. Before anything happened Jacob was worried about Embry, and now he was acting the same way. That had to be it that was the only explanation!

When I got home I rushed to the phone and dialed Billy's number. I hadn't talked to Jacob since he called last, and I had to say I was surprised that Billy picked up. I thought that he might have invested in caller ID.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi Billy, its Meda. Can I talk to Jacob?" I asked.

"No, he's…out," Billy said with a pause.

"Is he with Quil?" I asked, testing my theory.

"No, he's not," Billy said shortly.

"What about Embry?" I asked. Please say yes, I chanted internally.

"Yes, he's with Embry," Billy replied. He seemed happier to answer this question. Score! I thought to myself. Embry was in Sam's gang.

"Okay, thanks," I said, and hung up.

I drove to La Push, ready to shoot Jacob if that's what I needed to do to find out what was going on. The trip seemed terrifying as I was planning it, but it seemed like a minute had passed before I could see the forest thinning before the town started. Before I could get to Jacob's house, I recognized a tall boy walking along the road.

"Quil?" I asked as a parked the car.

"Hey Meda," he said. If there was one word to describe him, I'd probably use the word glum. He just seemed so down about something.

"Do you need a ride?" I asked.

He nodded and climbed into the passenger seat.

"Have you seen Jacob recently?" I asked.

"I just did. For about few weeks now, he won't leave Sam's side." He said. He pointed directions to his house as he spoke. "I tried to follow him, because I saw him with Embry, but they just disappeared into the forest. I've been in there for the past hour, yelling for him. God, I know this sounds like it belongs in a chick flick, but I just wish he'd talk to me and tell me what's wrong," Quil said with a dry smile.

"I feel the same way. I'm actually going to his house, and planning on beating it out of him if I have to," I said.

"I don't think you should beat him," Quil said. "Because that'd mean Sam would get to you too."

"Do you think its drugs or something?" I asked.

Quil shook his head. "I can't imagine Jake getting into that sort of stuff. He always said he wanted to go to college, especially UW," he said, referencing the University of Washington. "And none of the elders are getting mad or anything. I don't want to be next," he added, sounding downright terrified. "I live here." He pointed to a small house behind a small store. "Good luck with it," he said before he jumped out of the car.

I idled at the curb for a minute, before turning around and driving slowly to Jacob's house. I was dreading it, really, which is why the time flew and before I knew it, I was pulling into the driveway. Nobody else was there, but I saw Billy peek out of the window with a confused and angry expression. I closed my eyes and focused on counting to a thousand.

There was a sharp rap at the door when I reached one hundred and seventy two. I looked, expecting Billy to kick me out, but instead I saw Jacob. His shoulder length hair had been cut close to his scalp, and he had changed in other ways. His eyes seemed meaner, more cold and distant. I was so used to smiling, happy, carefree Jacob, that this one really creeped me out. He was also bigger, both taller and wider, in the shoulders.

There were four boys behind him, and I recognized Embry. He looked absolutely thrilled to see me, alternating between glaring at me and kicking the ground.

"What do you want?" Jacob practically spat at me.

"I wanted to talk to you," I said evenly, looking him in the eye.

"Go ahead," he said.

I looked pointedly at Sam and his crew and turned back to Jacob with a "are you kidding me" expression.

Jacob looked behind him, and everyone else, including me, looked for Sam's reaction. He nodded once, and they all walked into Jacob's house. I had to keep down the sarcastic comments, I had a feeling they wouldn't help. While they were walking away, I climbed out of the truck.

Jacob looked at me, his eyes and face held no emotion.

"You know what I want to know," I said. Short and simple, to the point.

Jacob didn't respond, but he suddenly started walking to the edge of the forest, and I practically had to jog to keep up with his long strides. "Get it over with," he said harshly.

I was surprised at his tone, but I kept a smooth face. Silence, I knew, often led to a more complete explanation. And I was right.

"It wasn't what I thought," he said. "I was way off."

"So what is it?" I asked.

"I can't tell you," he said.

"I thought we were friends," I said sharply.

"We were," he said, using past tense. That stung.

"So now you're friends with Sam," I said. "So I guess it's his fault."

"Don't blame Sam!" Jacob said sharply.

"Then who should I blame?" I asked.

"How about those filthy bloodsuckers you care so much about?" Jacob hissed.

Wow. Just…wow. I actually took a step back. "What?" I asked. I was so lost.

"You heard me."

"But you said you didn't believe the stories," I said, my mind starting to work through the information. It came back to the vampires, always the vampires. "And besides," I said. "They left months ago. Why start now?"

"If something's set in motion, it's too late," Jacob said. He abruptly turned and walked away.

"I saw Quil today," I said.

He turned around, his expression pained. Funny, that look almost made me feel sorry for him.

"Yeah, he's terrified he's next," I said.

"He can't be next, it's supposed to end!" Jacob said. Without warning, he slammed his fist into a small tree. It wasn't too large, but I was surprised to hear it crack.

"How dare you!" I saw the nymph scurry out of the branches, then start to yell insults at Jacob for hurting her tree. The mist protected her from his view, though. I tried not to stare at her, that'd make me look crazy.

"I have to get back!" Jacob said, looking at the damage he caused. He sounded scared.

"Run back to Sam, honey," I said. I was pulling the snotty card, I knew, but I didn't know what else to say.

Jacob didn't look back as he ran back to Billy's house. I knew that everyone was still inside, but not even a curtain fluttered. It started to mist, and I comforted the nymph whose tree Jacob broke.

"Twenty years!" she kept lamenting.

I walked back to my truck, processing the information. But I kept my eyes on the house, though. I wondered if Sam came out, could I stab him a couple of times before he handed over what was going on. I stood by my truck, staring at the house. I thought of the vampires in ancient Greece, and the Cullens, and why Jacob suddenly believed an old story he thought was more comedy than anything else. I was lost in my mind, trying to sift through memories to find what was going on. The rain picked up, but that was a minor discomfort. Suddenly, the door of the house opened, startling me.

"I called Charlie to say you're on your way home," Billy said without emotion. What a dick.

"Thanks," I said, getting into my truck.

When I got home, Charlie was waiting by the door.

"Billy said you and Jake got into a fight," he said, helping me out of my soaked jacket.

"Yeah," I replied.

"You didn't tell him about the…" he asked.

"No, no!" I said. "Only if it's an emergency."

"Good," Charlie said.

That night when I went to sleep, I saw had nightmares of Percy drowning. He was trapped in a box, pounding on the walls and begging for me to help him. I ran up to him, and shoved a knife through the glass, shattering it. But the water wasn't water. It turned out to be blood, and the red color covered both of us from head to toe.

"Run, Meda, please!" Percy said, shoving me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Run from what?"

Percy opened his mouth, but the only thing that came out was a screech.

My eyes snapped open.

There was someone at the window.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey here's chapter nine! I've been thinking (yes, its scary, I know) and I've decided to do some editing on Andromeda's story, book one. There's just some parts that could use some more detail and flow. I don't know when I'm going to get around to that though. **

**hope you enjoy reading!**

**thank you!**

* * *

There was a screech again. I quickly grabbed my knife from my nightstand drawer, and crouched down. I was glad I had this one on me, it was a seven inch serrated blade with a sturdy wooden handle, one of my favorites, making it easy to get in a couple of quick stabs before whoever was out there could blink. I was also glad that it was two in the morning, and dark. Darkness was a good shield, I knew. Gods, I needed to use the bathroom, why couldn't this have happened earlier? And I was hungry! Rule one and two of battle was never fight on an empty stomach, and never fight on a full bladder. Currently, I was breaking both rules. What was wrong with me? But was it Victoria, or maybe Laurent? Had one of them found me? Had both of them found me? Oh gods I needed to protect Charlie! What if it was something else? I took a couple of deep breaths to calm me down.

Screech. The window.

I shuffled quietly to the window, staying below the glass so whoever was outside couldn't see me, and counted to three silently. Springing up, with my knife raised, I saw him.

"Jacob what the heck are you doing here?" I asked.

"Meda, open the window!" he whisper yelled at me. "And put the knife down!" he said his eyes widening as he saw the knife raised over my head.

Could this really be Jacob? Only hours before he had told me to stay away. I tried to shift mist away from him, but there was none to shift away. So he was real. Huh. And he wasn't wearing a shirt. Even weirder.

"Open the window!" he said again. This time I hurried. He was twenty feet up in the air, bending the thin branches of the tree that grew in front of my window at an awkward angle. They screeched against the siding of the house, and that's where the sound was coming from. If I didn't hurry, he'd fall twenty feet and probably break a leg or something. But I doubted that the fall could break his thick, stupid skull. I opened the window as far as it could go, and saw Jacob start swinging his legs, building up momentum. Then, with a grunt, he let go and sailed through my window gracefully, landing with a dull thud. I looked around and paused, hoping it hadn't woken Charlie. I heard a loud snore, and it was safe. But when I turned back to Jacob, he was looking at me with horror.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

I realized my mistake. I slept in half sleeves, and he could see all my scars. I always wore long sleeves when I was going outside. Well, he couldn't all of the scars, I had lots on my upper body, torso, legs, etc., but he saw quite a few of them. Good thing I was wearing long pants, he'd probably have a heart attack.

"Occupational hazard," I said coldly, turning away and putting the knife back in my nightstand before turning back around and facing him again. "But why are you here?"

"I came to apologize," he said after a pause, ripping his eyes away from my forearms and back to my face. I had to fight the urge to shove him in one of my shirts. Preferably the frilliest, pinkest one I could find. Served him right.

"I don't accept!" I spat at him.

"Please, can we just…talk?" he asked.

I rubbed my forehead and sighed. "Fine, but wait a minute. And don't wake Charlie up." I walked silently down the stairs into the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar, and went to the bathroom. While I was there, I grabbed a bathrobe to cover my arms, and walked back into my room. Jacob was sitting in the chair at my desk, looking almost sick. I unwrapped the bar, and sat on my bed. "Talk," I told him. "You have five minutes."

"I had to talk to you," he said, sounding desperate. "I couldn't leave things the way I did this afternoon. I'm so sorry."

"So am I," I said. "If you would just tell me…"

He looked like he wanted to throw up. "I want to, but I can't. I wish I could, I really want to, but I can't," he said.

"Why?" I asked quietly but harshly.

There was a deafening silence, and he opened his mouth, and shut it again. "Meda, have you ever had a secret you couldn't tell anyone?" he asked.

Oh boy could I tell him something about secrets. I nodded.

"Something you had to keep from Charlie, or maybe even your mom?" he prompted.

My parents knew what I was, but they never knew what Alice, Edward, and their family was. The secrets kept piling up with me, I guess. I nodded again.

"Meda, I'm in the same boat!" he whispered. "I am bound so tightly, I can't tell you this secret, even though that's what I want more than anything else!" he jumped up and started pacing silently across my room.

"Then tell me!" I whispered back, throwing the wrapper of the granola bar angrily in my trash.

"I already did! Don't you remember? I did! You just need to guess right, and then you'll know!" he said.

"You never told me anything except that you're scared of Sam," I said.

"No, look," he said. He crouched down so he was eye level with me on the bed. "Remember the day we met, on the beach in La Push?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" I said uncomfortably.

"Remember what we talked about?" he asked, sounding desperate.

"Yeah, we talked about your car, we went for a walk, and you told me the Cullens are vampires," I said.

"Do you remember all the stor-" he asked, breaking off and sounding like he was choking.

"The stories?" I asked.

"Yes, I told you two," he said. "Remember?"

"You told me the Cullens are vampires," I repeated.

He sighed and turned away, running a hand through his hair and over his face. "You have to remember, you have to!" he said.

"Look, give me some more time, I'm sure I will," I lied to him. I had no idea what the 'other story' was.

"Okay," he said, more hopefully. "But I do have a question. Was I the one who told you?' he asked. "You never knew?"

I shook my head. "You told me."

He laughed once, humorlessly. "Well, you've got to figure this out. There's no other way." He paused. "I have to get back, or else they'll find out."

"Sam?" I asked icily.

"Sam," Jake repeated.

"Can't you just leave?" I asked him.

"I'm in this for life," he replied. He started to the window.

"No!" I said. "You'll die, and how will I explain that to Charlie? Go out the door!"

He turned around. "But promise that you'll come and talk to me after you figure it out. Or just call, if you don't want to see me."

"Why wouldn't I want to see you?" I asked. A few hours ago, I hated him. But now I didn't know what to feel. I did hate him for following Sam around, but he apparently broke rules talking to me. I would have to think about this.

"I can think of a few reasons," he said bitterly. He walked past me silently to get to the door. He stopped and turned around. "Just in case," he said.

Then he hugged me. I didn't have too much experience with hugs; I mostly saved those for Percy, Annabeth, and even Luke, before he went to Kronos. I could count the number of times I hugged Talia on two fingers. But with Jake it was different. He didn't know what I was. And I didn't know who he was. But maybe, maybe, I could guess right, and he'd tell me. Then we'd go back to being Jake and Meda again. I put my arms up awkwardly around him, and held him to me, then I let go and stepped away.

"You can do this," he said as he left my room. I watched him run away from the front door, faster than I thought possible.

I took the bathrobe off slowly and went back into bed. I pulled the covers over my eyes and part of me wished this had never happened. But the other part of me was curious. That got me into trouble a lot as a kid. I was always curious.

Then suddenly I was back on the beach with Jacob. I saw myself wave to Percy as he and a few other guys walked the other way. That hurt, and I looked back at him longer, because a part of me was so scared I was forgetting him. But then I saw myself talking to Jacob and I followed me.

"There's an old tribal story that we're descended from wolves," he said, with a smile of a person who didn't believe anything he was saying. "Then there's the story of the cold ones. According to legend, my great grandfather made a treaty with them that kept them off our land. Cold ones are the enemy of the wolves, or wolves that could turn into men."

"What?" I asked, intrigued.

"You call them werewolves," he said. "And the cold ones? These weren't dangerous; they could survive off the blood of animals. They were blood drinkers, you call them vampires."

I understood now, but the dream bent, and suddenly I was back in the meadow, and I saw Laurent, saying he'd kill me mercifully, and the wolves coming into the clearing. Laurent ran from them, and the one brown colored wolf looked at me for a moment that stretched on and on. I walked up to him, and looked in the eyes. The wolf turned into Jacob, who pushed me away, and yelled at me to run.

When I woke up, I understood everything. I laughed once. I guess non humans really did sniff each other out. I laughed again. Sniff and my friend was a wolf. Gods, was I going crazy? There was no cult, there wasn't even a gang. They were a pack of wolves.

I threw on the first pair of jeans and the first shirt I could find, and shoved food in my face quickly.

"Where are you off to?" Charlie asked, looking at me with a worried expression when he came downstairs.

"I have to talk to Jake," I said.

"I thought you were fighting?" Charlie asked.

"Well then I need to apologize," I said.

"You? Apologize?" he asked with a smirk.

"Save it," I said with a smile over my shoulder.

"But Meda, I'm serious now," he said. "You're just going to La Push, right? No stops along the way, no hiking or going into the woods?"

"No, I never do, why?" I asked, curious.

"It's just… there's another attack, those wolves again. A hiker went missing, but there was a witness, his wife. She saw some wolves go into the forest when she was looking for him. There's no sign of him, just a little blood." Charlie said. I could tell that he was really worried about this.

"So what's happening today?" I asked.

"There's been a reward offered, and hunters are getting excited. Rangers are hunting them too," he said, tired. "When that much firepower gets in one place, there's bound to be an accident…"

If Charlie hadn't been there, I probably would have emptied my stomach into the sink. I hadn't thought of those before, I just remembered the legend. But the missing hikers and tourists, the blood, it meant something.

"Just stay out of the forest," he said. He took his gun off the wall and went to work, more downtrodden than I'd ever seen him before.

"Are you leaving?" he asked me.

"No, not yet, I need some more time," I said.

I sat down on the couch and thought. So my friend Jake, good, kind, funny, easygoing Jake, was a murderer. He and his pack were linked to the disappearances. The time I saw them with Laurent, they probably didn't try to kill me because Jacob knew me. Why kill someone you knew and liked?

Wasn't one myth enough for me? Why did I have to deal with vampires and werewolves? I knew I had to warn Jacob about the hunters. But did I have to do that? Shouldn't he be punished for what he is doing, I wondered. I couldn't help but compare the werewolves to the Cullens. They were the only monsters I knew of who ever tried to be good.

I jumped up, realizing something I should have hours ago. The werewolves couldn't exist! This was a lie, I knew, because the real werewolves came to be when King Lycaon of Arcadia and his fifty sons fed Zeus, who was in the form of a peasant, the blood and flesh of a child. Zeus then killed them all with lighting, and turned the king into a wolf.

I ran upstairs; trying to find the book Annabeth had given me so many years ago. It was a book of important myths, because nobody knew when we'd have to deal with a myth, and it was important to know your enemy as well as possible. I found the story, and read it twice. There was nothing about Native American legends here!

But the vampires aren't in this book, and they were real, a small voice in the back of my head nagged. I sank down to my bedroom floor. Legends that weren't Greek were real. Look at the romans, and I shouldn't be too surprised if other religious figures existed, like Egyptian, or maybe even Christian and Jewish gods. It was the strength of the belief that made it real. So maybe my friend was really a werewolf.

Only one way to find out, I thought as I started the truck.


	10. Chapter 10

**Wow I'm such a freaking nerd. another chapter. I think I have no life. I know I have no life. but thank you to all the people who read, favorite, follow, and review my work. it's so weird, there's like three or four really loyal reviewers I have. (you know who you are! :D) thank you all so much for your continued support. **

**Happy reading!**

* * *

The drive passed quickly, and before I knew it, I was stalking up to Billy's house, ready to punch him out of his wheelchair if I needed to. I never thought myself as someone willing to hurt the injured but if Billy kept up acting the way he was… I threw open the door and saw Billy in the hallway.

"Meda?" he asked, almost angrily.

"I need to see Jacob, Billy, and no lies, please," I said coldly. He seemed surprised.

"I don't know," he said.

"Well, I'm sure that you know that Charlie's hunting wolves in the forest." My words had the desired effect, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, although he shut it quickly.

"Jake's sleeping," he amended, nodding to Jacob's closed bedroom door.

I darted around him and opened the door quickly. Jacob was there, and he was sleeping. He was too big for the bed, even diagonally, his feet hung off the side. He looked nicer when he was asleep. Calmer, more predictable looking. I closed the door silently and went back around Billy. "I'll be on the beach. Tell him I'll be waiting, please," I said. Billy nodded and I left.

I drove down to the beach, letting the strong sea air blow into the truck, and parked on the last bits of asphalt I saw. I walked down to a piece of driftwood, and sat down on it, sighing heavily. On an impulse, I brought a small wave, no more than two inches high up to my feet, and let it back into the ocean. My feet and shoes stayed dry, something I still thought was so cool, even after all the times I'd done it. I spent the better part of forty five minutes like that, staring out into the water and making small waves. It was so calming, I almost fell asleep.

I had to pull myself out of my daze when I heard the quiet crunching of the rocks.

"Hey Meda," Jacob said. I expected him to sound angry, but there was no malice in his voice. "It didn't take you very long," he commented.

"No, it didn't," I said. I didn't know how to proceed from there.

"Why did you come, why didn't you call?" he asked harshly, a big change in tone from the sentence before.

"I think this talk is better face to face, wouldn't you agree?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, this is much better," he laughed once and ran his hand through his hair.

"I came here to talk to you about…" I started.

"The rangers and hunters? Don't worry, we've got that covered," Jake said.

"My dad's out there, looking for you!" I said, standing up and facing him.

"They're just making it more difficult," Jake said. "But they'll start disappearing soon too."

"How can you say something like that?" I practically shouted at him. "You know these people! How can you be such a monster?"

"You know what makes me mad?" he asked. "You stand here, calling me a freak! I'm sorry I'm not the right monster for you, then! We're not as great as bloodsuckers, are we?"

"It's not what you are, I don't care about that!" I shouted. I took a deep breath, to calm myself. If I got too out of hand I'd probably cause an earthquake or tsunami or something like that. "It's what you're doing. Can't you find a way to stop it? Even the Cullens didn't act the way you do. They tried, Jacob! They knew that they could be better…people, I guess, and they put effort into it!"

"Stop what? Put effort into what?" he asked. He seemed more confused than anything else.

"Killing those hikers!" I said loudly. "That's what I'm talking about!"

"That's what this is about?" he asked, looking confused.

"Yes, of course it is!" I said. "These people are innocent; I can't and won't look the other way if you're hurting them."

Suddenly he grinned. "So you're angry because I'm killing people? That's it?"

"Isn't that enough?" I hissed at him. "And quit smiling or I swear I'm smacking it off your face!"

"You don't care I morph into a giant dog?" he asked.

"No, not really, I have bigger problems," I said. Before I could get another word in, he suddenly gripped me in a tight bear hug, like the one he gave me the night before.

"What are you doing?" I asked stiffly as I locked my arms as Jacob laughed and hugged me.

"I'm not a killer, Meda," he said as he released me.

"You're not?" I asked. Then who is, I wondered. "What about Sam?" I asked instead.

"Remember how I told you Sam calls us protectors?" he asked. "That's what we do, we protect people. Sometimes we get there too late."

"Who?" I asked. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, but he needed to say it.

"The cold ones, our enemy. You of all people should know," he said.

"Laurent's still out there!" I said.

"Who?" Jacob asked.

"You were there, in the meadow. He wanted to kill me," I said. "You stopped him. He ran from you."

"The leech with the black hair? He wasn't too hard. Easy, in fact," Jacob said.

"You killed Laurent?" I asked in amazement.

"It was more of a group effort, but yeah," Jake said sheepishly.

"He's not coming back for me?" I said, more to myself than Jacob. I didn't have to worry so much about Charlie anymore; I didn't have to live in fear!

"He wasn't a friend, right?" he asked. "It didn't look like it. But we had to make sure that he wasn't going to do anything in the future."

"No, he wasn't a friend." I said.

"Why did you crouch down like that, like you were going to fight him?" Jacob asked me curiously. "Why didn't you run or something?"

I paused, wondering what to say. "Isn't it better to go down fighting?" I asked eventually.

"Yeah," he said, agreeing with me but still giving me a weird look. "But don't worry," he continued. "We're taking care of this, you'll be alright. It's just his mate has been giving us some trouble is all…"

Taking care of this? Present tense. And his mate? It wasn't over. Because it had been time since Laurent was dead, and people have died. Laurent even mentioned her. 'Victoria wanted you to suffer, but I'm not so cruel.' He told me.

"Victoria!" I said. She was here, in the woods. The woods where my dad was searching. I focused on taking deep breaths.

"Are you alright? Do you need a glass of water?" Jacob asked me.

"Victoria wasn't his mate, they were just friends," I said in a rush, the words jumbling together. "James was her mate. Remember last spring break, I had to leave for a couple days? They were chasing me and Percy," I explained.

"Why is she here then?" Jacob asked me.

"She wants me," I said. "She thinks Edward killed James, and Laurent said that she thinks this way it'll be fair. Mate for a mate kind of thing."

"This is important," Jacob said. "We have to tell the others right now. I'll be right back," he said and started running into the forest gracefully.

I walked back to my truck, happy that at least I had my pencils and watch on me in case I needed to defend myself against yet another homicidal vampire. This was just crazy, I thought as I locked the doors, like that'd help me, and waited. So Victoria was hunting me. I guess I needed to kill her too, then. It would be nice though, to have a complete set of kills, I mused.

The sound of Jacob coming up to the truck made me look up, and he motioned for me to come out. I did so cautiously, and he looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"You're not reacting to this the way I expected," he said. I thought he looked worried.

"I didn't expect you to morph into a wolf, but then again, here you are," I shot back. He smiled that easy, happy smile I missed so much.

"Just a warning, we can…hear each other," Jacob said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Well, it's mostly when we're in wolf form, but it also kind of sucks. We don't have secrets," he said.

I shrugged. "You're not the first I've known who can do that."

He motioned for me to get back in the car. "We're going to meet them where we rode our bikes. Are you talking about those bloodsuckers?"

"Don't use slurs in my truck, thank you." I said, pursing my lips. "But yes. And it was only Edward Cullen. He could read minds."

Jacob didn't look happy at that. "I thought those were just stories. I've heard legends of vampires who could do extra stuff, but I didn't think it was real."

I paused and sighed. "A lot of stuff you think isn't real is real, it seems."

He laughed once. "I guess so."

"Did you turn into a wolf just now to talk to Sam?" I wondered.

"Yeah, I did. I had to keep it short, though. Or else he would've known you were with me." he said.

"They wouldn't like that, would they?" I asked bitterly.

"No they wouldn't." Jacob said.

"But I do have a question. Why couldn't you say this before, why did I have to guess?" I asked.

"Sam's the alpha of the pack. What he says goes," Jacob explained. "So if we get an order, we have to follow it, even if we don't want to. And he told us not to tell anyone. So I couldn't."

I know what that feels like, always having to follow orders. I stayed silent, hoping I hadn't given too much away.

"I don't know what it was like for Sam," Jacob went on. "He was all alone. When I changed, I had the other voices, telling me what happened and what to do. But he had nobody."

When he said it like that, it was hard to feel angry at Sam. "Will they be angry I'm with you?" I asked.

"Probably," he said with a grin.

"Should I not come?" I asked.

"No, you should definitely come," Jake stressed. "You know a ton of things that can help us. You're not some ignorant human. Like the mind reading bloodsucker, sorry, Cullen," he amended after being at the receiving end of my glare. "Do you know if Victoria can do anything special?" he asked.

"I doubt it," I said. "But while James was in phoenix, she was here distracting the other Cullens, so I didn't get a good look at her." I pulled over to the side of the road and cut the engine, because we arrived to where we practiced the bikes.

"Here should be fine," Jacob said.

"Are you sure I should be here?" I asked again. I needed to be 100% sure I was doing the right thing.

"Are you afraid of the big bad wolf?" Jacob joked.

"Not particularly," I said dryly as I climbed out of the car. Instinctively, I gathered the mist around me. I didn't do anything with it; I just kept it close in case somebody drove on the road and saw giant wolves.

"Well," Jacob said. "Here we go."

I expected them to come as wolves. Instead, all I saw were four, really big shirtless boys. That's what they were, boys, with the exception of Sam. He didn't look old physically, it was mostly in the way he carried himself. Together, they look like four pieces of the same person. They move the same way, and even have their emotions painted across their face at the same time. At first, they are curious. But when they see me, standing beside Jacob, they turn furious.

I expected as much, so I do something that probably isn't smart. I acted like a demigod instead of a human. A human would cower against Jacob, be weak and need protection. I stared at the boys, my face smooth, standing straight up and having my shoulders back. I make eye contact with them, saying 'fight me, I dare you' through my gaze.

Sam stalked up to Jacob. "What have you done?" he demanded.

Another boy, Jared or Paul, I forgot their name, pushed past Sam before Jacob could talk.

"Why can't you follow the rules, Jacob?" he yelled loudly. "What are you thinking? What is wrong with you?"

"She can help," Jacob said quietly.

"Help?" the boy said, his body quivering. "I'm sure the leech lover's dying to help us out!"

"Watch your tone," I said in a bored voice, staring at the angry boy with a bland expression on my face. That took everybody back, and Sam and the other two looked at me in blatant shock.

"Who do you think you are, talking to me like that, you wannabe bloodsucker?" Paul said.

"I said, watch your tone," I repeated myself stronger that time, taking a step to him. He towered over me, but I knew I could take him, wolf or human down if I needed to. We were so close to the ocean. He looked shocked and angry that I'd talk to him like that.

The boy shuddered once, almost like it was ripping through his body.

"Get a grip, Paul," a boy, Jared, said.

Paul swung his head toward Jared, his lips curling over his teeth in a snarl that seemed wolf like. I was a few feet from him. He swung his head back toward me. "You should be careful, I've got a temper," he warned in a growl.

"That's funny," I said with a smirk. "I've got a temper too. We're practically best friends already." Then I smiled.

Jacob pulled me back at the last second.

"Paul, relax!" Sam and the fourth boy said, but Paul was too far gone. Another shudder ripped through him, and then he exploded. Dark silver fur flew out of him, and instead of a boy, there was only a wolf, the size of a horse, growling and ready to spring. His eyes, practically burning with fury, focused on me.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! thank you for reading, of course. I start three days of hell, otherwise known as finals, in less than an hour. but thank you all for your reviews, favorites, and follows, they really keep me going. I also want to let you all know that there's a tumblr blog called the Fanfiction Gazette on tumblr, where fanfictions are reviewed, and I'm going to hopefully become a reviewer on that blog.**

**It's just gotten started, so there isn't too much available right now, but you can find it here,**

****** ffgazetteeditor. tumblr . com**

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**Thank you!**

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I instinctively reached for my pocket for my knives, but in the second Paul transformed, Jacob went into action. Almost before I could blink, he was racing toward Paul and jumped in the air. As he jumped, a shudder racked his body, and he exploded too. Reddish brown fur flew out of him, and he also turned into a wolf the size of a horse as he landed on the ground. The transformations are so quick that if I blinked a nanosecond too long I would have missed it. Jacob attacked the wolf head on, their snarls echoing in the silence that was unbroken by passerby. That reminded me. I manipulated the mist so it was a dome around us. Anyone passing would just see some kids talking and my truck. They wouldn't see the wolves or hear them. And nobody would see that I was manipulating the mist, because it covered all of us.

I was freaking brilliant.

But I was also freaking out about Jake. His clothes ripped and he and the other wolf were really fighting. "Jacob!" I said, starting forward.

"Stay where you are, Andromeda!" Sam said.

I didn't bother correcting him; the sound of the fight was too loud. Jacob seemed to have the upper hand over Paul, he was visibly bigger, and he used his strength to his advantage, ramming into Paul over and over again. Their sharp teeth snapped at each other, making me dizzy.

"Take her to Emily," Sam shouted above the fray to the other two boys who were watching with a look of mild interest. He then kicked off his shoes and followed them into the forest, shuddering as well. Jacob had shoved Paul into the forest, but I could still hear their snarls. Suddenly the sound cut off and there was deafening silence again. I let go of the mist cautiously, and I heard someone start laughing behind me. I looked at him, and tried to figure out where I'd seen him before. Then I remembered. He was Embry. He had also grown bigger, and looked both older and younger than the last time I saw him, which didn't make sense, but did make sense. Life was confusing sometimes, I thought as I stared at him, wondering how he could laugh at that.

"You don't see that every day," he said and kept on laughing.

"I do," Jared said grumpily.

"Well, you gotta admit, Paul doesn't lose his temper every day. Maybe two out of three," Embry responded.

Jared stooped to pick up something off the ground. It was the remnants of a shoe. "Billy said this was the last pair, I guess Jake will have to go barefoot," he said, grinning.

Embry picked something else up, and it was revealed to be another shoe. "This one survived, Jake's hopping!"

They both laughed at that, and I had to crack a smile. The image of Jacob having to hop everywhere on one foot was kinda funny. They picked up Sam's shoes and then looked at me at the same time.

"You're not fainting or puking anytime soon, are you?" Embry asked cautiously.

"No," I said. "Believe it or not, I've seen weirder and scarier."

Jared looked at me with an unreadable expression. "Huh," was all he said.

"No, I'm serious. Don't think so lowly of me," I said.

"Jake should have warned us though," Embry said.

"Yeah, and he shouldn't have brought his girlfriend into this, what did he think was going to happen?" Jared complained, picking up the last piece of fabric. I didn't correct his term of girlfriend, I was too weirded out by my friend turning into a wolf. I had seen weirder, but even I had to admit, this was strange.

"Well, wolf's out of the bag, I guess," Embry replied.

I took that moment to voice a concern. "Aren't you worried about them?" I asked.

"Why would we be worried?" Jared asked.

"What if they bite each other?" I said. Wasn't it obvious?

"I hope Paul gets a mouthful," Jared said. "That'd teach Jake a lesson he's had coming for a long time."

"Yeah right," Embry said. "Did you see Jake pull that phase? Even Sam couldn't have done that. That kid has a gift, a gift, I tell you!"

"Paul's practiced longer. Bet you five bucks he leaves a mark." Jared shot back.

"You're on," Embry said as they both grinned and shook hands.

It was hard to push away my worry over Jacob, but I did eventually. If other werewolves weren't bothered, why should I be?

"I'm hungry. Let's go see Em. She'll have food ready," Embry said. "You can drive, right?"

"Sure," I said. I left the keys in the ignition, and unlocked the doors for them. Embry sat in the front, and an unhappy Jared was put in the back.

"Hey, how did Jake get around the injunction anyway?" Embry asked me as he gave me directions to the village.

"The what?"

"You know, the order to not tell anyone," he explained.

"Oh he didn't. He told me the story about a year and a half ago, and I just remembered," I said.

"Huh, I guess that could work," Jared said thoughtfully through the window. There were no seats in the back, so he was in the bed of the truck.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Emily is Sam's girlfriend, no, fiancée now. The others will meet us there after Sam gives it to them for losing their tempers. And they'll have to scrounge up some clothes. That was cool, though, what you did to Paul," Embry said. I winced internally, I hoped he'd forgotten it, but apparently I didn't have such luck. "How did you do it?"

I took a few seconds before answering. "I was in foster care for eight years before I was adopted. I've dealt with scarier people before. At least Paul picked on someone his own size, that's more than could be said for a lot of people I met," I said.

I looked in the rearview; Jared had broken eye contact with me. Embry looked uncomfortable. "Is that what happened to your arms?" he asked. "We just…saw it in Jake's memory, that's all. You don't have to answer if you don't want to," he said in a rush.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened to my arms," I said. I took another deep breath of the salty air, letting it calm me. I never liked talking about foster care all that often. It was a tough place to grow up. "Now I'm assuming that Emily knows her fiancée can turn into a wolf?" I asked, changing the topic.

"Of course she knows," Jared said.

"But don't stare at her, it bugs Sam," Embry warned.

"Why would I stare?" I wondered.

"Werewolves aren't the most predicable things on the planet," he said. "But hey, are you alright with the black haired bloodsucker in the meadow? It looked like you knew him, but it didn't look like you were friends."

"One, no slurs in the truck," I warned. "Two, yeah, its' fine, I wasn't friends with him or anything."

"Oh good," Jared said, looking seriously relived. "We didn't want to break the treaty."

"Why would killing Laurent break a treaty?" I asked, turning onto the main road of La Push.

"Laurent," Jared repeated. He and Embry both snorted, like the idea of vampires having names was funny. "Well, we were technically on Cullen turf. We're not allowed to attack any of them off our land—unless they break the treaty first. We didn't know if the black-haired one was a relative of theirs or something."

"And how does that treaty get broken?" I asked curiously.

"If they bite a human. Jake didn't want it to get that far," Embry said.

"Well I'm glad you didn't wait," I said with a small smile.

"Our pleasure," Jared said with a sincere grin. I tried not to judge them; I did like killing monsters myself. Speaking of killing monsters, I was falling spectacularly behind my personal quota.

Embry pointed me to a narrow dirt road. "Your truck is slow," he said.

"Sorry?" I asked. "But feel free to hang your head out the window if you'd like," I said.

They both thought that was clever, because they laughed a bit at it. Embry instructed me to stop at a tiny almost grey house. There was a pot of marigolds hanging outside the window, giving the house an almost cheerful look. There was a faint smell coming out of the house, I couldn't really identify it.

"Em's cooking," Embry said, slamming the door. They all climbed the front steps and entered without knocking. I followed uncertainly. It just seemed rude to barge in on someone without knocking. Then I smiled when I realized I did the same to Billy.

The front part of the house was mostly a big kitchen, and there was a woman at the stove, her back to us. She had glistening waist length black hair. I wondered if a daughter of Aphrodite snuck in, because even from behind, she was beautiful.

"You all hungry?" she said and turned around, holding a plate of blueberry muffins. I knew she wasn't the daughter of Aphrodite then, because three scars were stretched across the right side of her face, pulling down the corner of her mouth, and the other one marring her eye.

I looked at her blatantly. I've seen scars before, but not many people have such terrible ones on their face. And if they did, usually the ambrosia fixed them up. I saw her eyes flick down to the floor, clearly uncomfortable about my staring. Jared and Embry looked at me like I was from another planet. I assumed I was to them. I bent down and rolled up my jeans and turned around, showing Emily my burns, scars, and even bite marks from monsters all over my leg. When I looked around, her eyes were wide, and they flicked back up to me, filling with tears.

"I hate to break it to you, but I totally win," I said with a grin as I rolled my jeans down. "And I'd love a muffin, thanks."

She silently gave me one, and I ate half of it in a bite. It was delicious.

"What's your name?" she asked me after a moment in a melodic voice.

"Andromeda Jackson, but please, call me Meda," I said, smiling through the muffin.

"Leave it to Jacob to find a way around," she said, almost affectionately. "So you're the vampire girl."

"No thanks," I said, finishing the other half of the muffin and reaching for another. "I don't like labels."

"Where's Sam, then?" she asked Jared and Embry.

"Meda surprised Paul a while ago," Jared said.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Figures. I was starting the eggs soon; I hope they won't be too long."

"We won't waste anything!" Embry said.

"I don't think you would," she said, rolling her eyes again. Embry took that moment to grab his third or fourth muffin. Emily smacked him lightly on the back of the head. "Save some for your brothers!" she said.

That word surprised me, but I didn't question it too much. I supposed they were all brothers in a way.

"What a pig," Jared said as he reached for another muffin himself.

It was interesting to watch them, though. The room was friendly, and everyone seemed completely at ease there. The rickety table had a cracked pitcher overflowing with wildflowers. Emily was busy cracking what looked like a dozen eggs into a bowl and mixing them up. She had her sleeves pushed up, and I could see that there were some scars on her arms as well. I guess werewolves did have risks.

The front door opened, and Sam stepped through. "Emily," he said, and so much love was in his voice it was cute, but also annoying. It got worse as he kissed each one of her scars before kissing her mouth. Something nagged at me, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

"None of that," Jared said. "We're eating."

"Geez, get a room," I said. Embry thought that was funny.

"Shut up," Sam said as he looked at Emily again.

Then I realized where I'd seen the look on Sam's face before. Percy kind of looked like that when he looked at Annabeth. I shuddered, because seriously, he was sixteen-no-seventeen now, and he couldn't be in the L-word, could he?

"Damn you Aphrodite," I said under my breath as I angrily finished my second muffin and reached for a third.

Paul and Jacob came through the door then, and I didn't know what I expected from them, but seeing them laughing and joking with each other was not what I expected. They were both in one piece, so I guess that was good. But it was strange, last time I saw them they were wolves fighting each other.

"Hey Meda," Jacob said cheerfully as he grabbed two muffins as well. "You all right?"

"Well, I did just see two humans turn into giant wolves, so that was strange, but otherwise, my day's going pretty okay," I joked. "How are you?"

Jacob laughed. "I'm great, thanks for asking."


	12. Chapter 12

**this chapter is quite a bit longer than my normal ones, I hope you enjoy it! thank you for all of the support!**

**happy reading!**

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"NOOOO!" Jared said, pointing at a faded mark on Paul's arm.

"Five bucks!" Embry said triumphantly.

"Did you do that?" I asked Jacob, quickly explaining to him about the bet.

"I barely touched him," he snorted. "He'll be fine by sundown."

"By sundown?" I asked. "Is that a wolf thing?"

He nodded, like most of the others; he was only focused on the scrambled eggs Emily was making. I had to roll my eyes at that.

"Okay everyone, listen up," Sam said. "Jacob has information for us."

Paul didn't look surprised, I guessed that he had heard Jacob's thoughts when they were fighting or making up.

"I know what the redhead wants," Jacob said, kicking Paul's chair. "That's what I was trying to tell you before!" he said, sounding exasperated.

"And?" Jared prompted.

"She is trying to avenge her mate, but it wasn't the black haired lee-" he broke off, looking at me.

"I said no slurs in my truck, and we're not in the truck, so go right ahead," I said with a smile.

"It wasn't the black haired leech we got already. The Cullen's got her mate last year, and she's after Meda," he said.

Everyone stared at me.

"I was down in phoenix last spring break with my brother, running from her crazy boyfriend," I said. "she thinks Edward Cullen killed James, the psycho, and now she's doing the whole mate for a mate thing, which means that she's about half as crazy as her ex, which is still pretty nutters," I said. "Does it count as an ex if one died?" I wondered. Nobody answered the last one.

"Wait, you said she _thinks_ the Cullen killed him," Jared said. "What really happened?"

"oh nothing much, I just whipped out my celestial bronze knives made with metal mined from mount Olympus and chopped him to bits, because surprise, the Greek gods are real and Poseidon's my dad, which means I've been training to kill not human things for as long as I can remember," I said, taking in their looks of shock.

As if.

I sighed. I wanted to say something, I really did, but the habit of lying was too ingrained. I told them what I told the Cullens.

"He lured me to a dance studio by making me think he had my mom," I said. "And when I got there, another vampire showed up, told me to run, so I did. He had to have a couple of enemies, being crazy and all."

They all nodded, looking determined and thoughtful. Thankfully, none of them looked distrustful. Yay me, I'm a great liar.

"But she's just a girl," Embry said.

"Didn't say it made sense," Jacob replied. "The bloodsucker's heading for Forks."

Everyone stared at me. "What?" I asked. "I'll give you something to stare at," I said and started toward the knife I saw on the counter. Jacob pulled me back, rolling his eyes.

"We've got bait!" Jared announced after a pause.

Jacob picked up the can opener and flung it at his head. I plucked it out of the air before it could go too far and set it back on the counter. "Don't break Emily's stuff," I said. Then I realized everyone was staring at me. "What?" I asked. "I've got good reflexes." That was an understatement. My reflexes were excellent.

"Meda is not bait," Jacob said.

"Whadaya mean, I'm not bait? Of course I am!" I said, using my hands to emphasize my point. "You're using me to lure her here. That's practically the definition of bait."

"We have to change our patterns," Sam said, ignoring my outburst. "We have to leave a few holes, and see if she falls for it. She probably will head straight to forks, instead of taking advantage of divided numbers."

"Quil must be close," Embry said. "Then we can split even."

Everyone quieted down at that. I could see that nobody wanted that to happen to their friend.

"Well, we can't count on that," Sam said. "Paul, Jared, Embry, you take the outer perimeter, Jacob and I will take the inner. When we get her trapped, we collapse in. Meda, we believe you would be safest here, she wouldn't find you so easily, just in case."

"What about Charlie?" I asked. "She could go after him to get to me."

"March madness is still going on," Jake said. "I'm sure Billy and Harry could keep him here long enough."

I nodded.

"But you have to understand this is not what we're forcing you to do," Sam continued. "You need to decide for yourself. As you saw a while ago, we do have risks. I can't guarantee your safety." I noticed that he always was touching Emily, her hand, the small of her back, it seemed almost unconscious to him.

I waved my hand. "Its fine, I've lived through worse than an overfriendly dog." Actually, they could probably literally bite my head off, and the only thing that would happen is me getting pissed off, and slobber in my hair. And if a hellhound could be tamed, they weren't going to be that bad.

"But if there's somewhere else you feel safe…" he prompted.

New York, I wistfully thought. But I kinda wanted to kill her myself. "Nope, there's nowhere else," I said.

"Better to have her here, then we can end this," Sam said.

"You guys will be careful, right?" I said.

They all hooted and laughed. Well, everyone except Emily. She was very concerned, and I could see it in her face. Their laughter reminded me of when I was a kid, watching the older kids' suit up for battle. They were laughing and joking around, but almost every time somebody ended up getting killed. So yeah, even though I was practically invincible, I was still careful.

"Food's ready," Emily said, putting the large bowl of scrambled eggs on the table. The talk of vampires was history.

Everyone rushed around the small table, making it sway dangerously under the weight of all the boys. Emily had already served her portion, and was eating standing against the counter. I decided I'd try to get some leftovers, if there was any. They all ate so much, it was surprising.

I spent the rest of the day in La Push, most of it in Billy's house. Billy called Charlie to tell him where I was, and around dinner time Charlie arrived in his police cruiser with two large pizzas. Jake ate one by himself, and I ate about a third of the other one. Billy and Charlie were placing bets on who would eat the most in the beginning, but it was clear that Jake had me beat. Charlie was surprised at first that Jake and I made up, he asked about Jacob's haircut, he just shrugged and said it was time for a change.

Throughout the day, Jacob changed into a wolf and ran around, checking for Victoria. I really wished I could help him, but I knew I just had to help him without him noticing. He said they chased her halfway to Canada last night, and since then, she hadn't shown up again. A part of me hoped that she'd give up, but I didn't think she would, I didn't have that great luck.

"Hey, don't worry, okay?" Jacob asked as he walked me back to my truck.

"Just be careful, alright?" I said.

He laughed. "Hunting vampires is fun; it's the best part of this whole mess. But get some sleep, you look terrible."

"Well thanks," I snorted. Charlie honked his horn impatiently, but he was smiling so I didn't take him too seriously.

"Come down first thing, alright?" Jacob said.

"Okay," I said.

Charlie followed me home, but if I thought I could get upstairs without him asking anything, I was wrong.

"Meda, I thought you said you and Jake were fighting," he said.

"We made up," I said.

"You were saying something about Sam Uley," he probed.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes teenage mortals are hard to figure out," I said with a grin. "But I met him and his fiancée Emily. She's nice."

"Didn't know they made it official," Charlie said with interest. "Poor girl."

"Do you know what happened?" I asked.

"She was mauled by a bear up north last year," he said and shuddered. "It was really bad. It was spawning season and all. I heard Sam was really messed up over it."

I did feel bad for Sam then, it must be hard hurting someone you loved. Jacob had explained to me that if they feel angry, or even sad, they can turn into the wolf.

"That must suck a lot," was all I said to him.

He rolled his eyes. "Just go," he said, shooing me upstairs.

When I lay down I wondered for a while if Jake was already in wolf form with everyone else, searching for Victoria. I'll call her Vicky, I thought to myself, and smiled tiredly and closed my eyes.

Then they snapped open at the whimper I heard, filled with fear. I took in the drab office, and the family sitting in a chair, waiting for something. Nobody else was there. The woman had a long dress on, and the man was wearing a smart looking suit. The woman was holding a baby who couldn't be more than a year old. They were watching a girl with a plain black dress who was staring out the window, not moving, her dark hair tied in a simple braid.

"Mr. and Mrs. Brandon?" the secretary said. I thought that she was a secretary, but noticed that the uniform looked like an old nurse's uniform. If I had to guess, I'd say it was around 1930. The man and woman stood up and rushed to the table. I walked forward, listening to them. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw the business card at the desk. The Sylvester Willard Hospital for the Mentally Insane. Holy wow this was an asylum.

"Please, don't you have a place for her?" the woman begged, bouncing the baby. "This has been going on for months, and she isn't getting better!" I assumed she was the girl's mother, because she kept casting anxious glances to her. She hadn't moved, just staring out the window.

"We do have a bed available for her, and she's already been guaranteed treatment," the nurse assured. "Now I just need to ask you questions before the doctor can help her, alright?"

"Ask us anything," the man said.

"How long has this been happening?" the nurse asked.

"It started the day before her eighteenth birthday, she'd stare into space and then she'd say things, terrible things," the mother said. "Things about war, and blood, and heroes, I'd beg her to stop, but it's like she can't hear me. She'd also draw things, gruesome pictures with bodies cut and stabbed…" she trailed off, looking sick.

"Is there anything in the family related to insanity?" the nurse questioned.

"Nothing, on my side or Moira's," the man said.

The nurse finished typing something up, and then smiled softly at them. "We'll have her for three months, then we will evaluate her mental processes and see if she needs any more treatment, is that alright?" she asked.

"Yes, please," the mother said.

"Of course, anything," the father echoed.

"Miss Brandon?" the woman asked.

The girl kept staring out the window. Eventually two nurses ushered her onto a wheelchair and wheeled her away. The family was left in the waiting room, and the mother and baby had started crying. I shivered as I followed the girl down the hall, it was cold. She was put in a room, and I tried to follow her in there but found I couldn't. When she came out, she was dressed in a thin white robe, and the nurse continued down the hallway. The nurse didn't talk, I had a feeling she didn't like her job all that much. They entered another room, and a man in a long white coat was there, writing something in a notebook.

"Nurse Thompson, nice to see you," he said, turning to the nurse.

I practically had a heart attack right there. The man's eyes were gold, and his face was beautiful. "Effing vampires!" I said, smacking my hand against the brick wall. They didn't hear me, obviously.

The nurse giggled. "Nice to see you as well, Dr. Darnell," she said. "This is Miss Brandon, she's new, you have her file there, I see."

"Yes, we'll start her off on the lowest level, and progress from there," he said, and helped the girl onto the chair. I could see that her dark blue eyes weren't focused on anything. I'd read about this, shock treatments for insanity. It was often used in the 20's, through about the 50's. The girl was in for a lot, I could tell.

"They have to be stopped!" she suddenly said, in a clear voice, her eyes focusing in on us.

"Who has to be stopped?" the doctor asked, motioning for the nurse to stop setting up the equipment for the shocks.

"The heroes. They must be stopped, or the children of death will rule us all! There will be blood spilled, so much blood," she moaned.

The doctor shook his head. "Keep going," he told the nurse.

I left the room and ran down the hallway, but I could still hear her screaming. I waited, sitting at the hallway, and closed my eyes. I heard the squeaking and opened my eyes, and gasped. A different nurse was wheeling the girl down the hall to that room again, but now she was thinner. Actually, thinner wasn't the right word. She was gaunt. Her eyes were sunken in, and her cheekbones were sticking out of her face. Her fingers were practically skeletal.

The few windows showed that the leaves had fallen off the trees, and there was frost covering the ground.

"Why won't you stop?" the girl asked the nurse tiredly.

"We won't stop until you're all better," she said.

"I can't get better because that means they'll stop," the girl said. "You always stick your nose into places they don't belong."

The nurse rolled her eyes at that. "Your three months are up now, miss Brandon. That means this is the last one."

She sighed at that, and didn't respond. I followed them back into the room, where Dr. Darnell was waiting again. "Miss Brandon, how are you feeling today?" he asked with a heartbreaking smile.

"Tired," she said.

"Nurse Logan could you leave us please?" he asked. She giggled and left the room.

"Miss Brandon would you like to go outside?" he asked.

She nodded; hope flaring in her eyes for a brief moment. He opened the door and wheeled her further down the hall. Nobody looked at him twice; I assumed he had quite a bit of rank. When they went outside, he offered her his coat, and she took it gratefully.

"Miss Brandon, I know you know you will not get out of here, because of your condition," he said after checking to make sure nobody was listening.

"I know. But everyone will die if they don't listen," she said, staring at the gray sky.

"You do know there's a cure," he said.

She looked at him. "Give it to me, please," she begged. "I want to go home."

"You are willing?" he asked.

She nodded vigorously. He threw a bolt in the door and bent down to her level. "You are willing?" he repeated.

"Anything, I'll do anything," she said.

Here it comes, I said to myself. And it did.

He bit her.

Her mouth opened in an O, and she put her hand up to her neck, gasping for air and shaking violently. He scooped her up in his arms, and scaled the fence easily. They ran into the forest surrounding the hospital, and throughout the entire time, the girl didn't say a word. She just looked like she was sleeping, but every now and then she would moan and shake. The doctor set her down and watched over her for about a day.

"Well, I have to say I'm disappointed," a smooth voice drawled from nowhere. "I wanted a taste."

"She was never yours," the doctor snarled at him as he emerged from the shadow.

"Well, does that make you mine then?" the man asked. Heart attack number two, I thought. It was James. Looking at him made me want to stab him again.

"You don't touch a hair on her head!" the doctor said.

"Well," said James as he crouched. "There goes yours."

The fight was nasty, but in the end, James won. He was much stronger than the doctor. He took his head off, and then looked at the girl. "Almost done," he spat. "idiot." He ran away, flitting through the trees, taking the body with him.

A strangled scream made me look at the girl. Looking at her made me want to scream myself. She was a vampire now.

I knew her.

"Alice?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey everyone. Of course, thank you for reading and reviewing. It really means the world to me. And sorry about the late update, school got out for a week and two days, so I was just taking a quick break. I'm not giving up this story, don't worry. You readers, reviewers, followers and favoriters (that's not a word but oh well) keep me very motivated.**

**I did receive a long review the other day asking questions about this story. because this reader does not have an account, I'll answer their questions here now so they can get answers, instead of a pm like I usually do. the answers will be short, and I promise I'm not being rude, I just don't want to give out spoilers! **

**feel free to read this or skip it. **

**Happy reading!**

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**Question one: is the pack going to find out about her being a demigod anytime soon? **

**Answer- if by 'soon' you mean in the next chapter or two, the answer is no. I don't want to give out spoilers, but you make this so hard! :)**

**Question two: are the Cullens coming back? **

**Answer- yes, they will.**

**Question three: I noticed that a few times in the first story Meda and Percy seemed to communicate mentally and I was wondering how that happened, are they linked some how? **

**Answer- kinda sorta yes. in the Percy Jackson books, Tyson and Percy could communicate mentally on occasion, because they were related, and I thought it was only fair that the Jackson twins can communicate mentally at times. the reason they can't communicate now is because of Hera, godly interference and whatnot. **

**Question four: is Meda part of the Seven and will she be on the Argo II? **

**Answer- I have gotten questions about Meda and prophecies, so I hope this answers questions. Meda and Percy can fulfill prophecies together because they are twins. they are two halves of the same person, if you will. so because Percy is one of the Seven, so is Meda.**

**This person also gave suggestions for the plot, and I have to respectfully decline. I have a vast majority of the major events, such as Meda revealing her secret, already figured out. I am 99.99999999999% sure that readers will like it, though, so I really really hope you don't find this as an insult. **

**I hope this answered questions, feel free to contact me with any more! :)**

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Her red eyes looked at me but didn't see me. She struggled to her feet, holding onto a tree for support and breathing heavily. She straightened up suddenly, looking around.

"Where am I?" she asked herself. She shook her head, took a deep breath, and slowly walked off into the woods, the frosty leaves crunching under her steps.

The dream ended abruptly. When my eyes opened, it was spring break. Last spring break I was chased by a vampire, and I had a feeling this might be tradition for me. My mind was on Alice as I got my stuff together and drove to La Push. Jacob said I had to spend as much time there as I could so they could protect me from Victoria.

But had Alice been a demigod? I racked my brains for information. She was talking about heroes, and the children of death, so it had to be godly related. But something wasn't right, she had two parents. Then it hit me. She wasn't a demigod; she was supposed to be the next oracle of Delphi. That changed everything. The oracles were always female, mortals, and virgins. Alice was the first, obviously, and she had two human parents, making her the second. The last part was more of an educated guess than anything else, because in the 30's, I was sure those girls were laced up tight.

I slammed the brakes and pulled to the side of the road, while digging a crystal out of my backpack to make a rainbow. I sent an iris message to Rachel.

"Please wait one moment," a pleasant female voice said.

"I can't believe she put me on hold," I grumbled, but waited patiently. She was especially busy now.

"Meda, what's up?" Rachel asked. She was in her dress from the finishing school, but had knives lying around her in the cave. Her red hair was sticking up at all angles, and she looked really tired. But she was lucky, the Hephaestus cabin hooked up a sweet sound system so she just had to put her iPod in the dock to listen to her music. Some of it was playing softly in the background.

"I hope everything's alright," I said uncertainly. Apollo had said that asking her a question could trigger her to spout a prophecy. Last time she was asked, "How do you feel?" she let loose the seven half-blood prophecy. Rachel laughed at how hard I tried to keep from asking questions around her.

She laughed. "As alright as it could be. So what's wrong?"

"Stuffs come up, I can't really say what," I started. "But I need a list of all the oracles in the past. You know the ones before the mummy."

"Her name was Laura Diemer," Rachel said, annoyed. She hated it when we called the mummy 'the mummy.' She said it was disrespectful to her memory.

"Fine, then give me the records of all of them. I just need their names, nothing else. Wait- give me where they lived too," I said.

"Are you sure you can't say why? I could help you, couldn't I?" Rachel asked.

"Yes I am. But if you're meant to know, you'll find out," I said with a grin. She got all "look at the big picture, Meda," on me all the time; it was fun to return the favor.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, let me get the records and transfer you to Daphne."

"Thanks, Rach," I said.

Daphne Jameson was a daughter of Hermes. We'd practically grown up together, and it paid to be friends with the children of the god of messengers. She could get me overnight shipping on items for a small fee.

"Meda, how are you?" she asked, her blonde hair pulled in a high ponytail. She grinned like always, but she looked tired like Rachel. I guess the stuff at camp was really getting to her.

"Hey Daphne, I'm fine thanks, just….you know," I said, waving my hands vaguely in the air. She nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, things have been pretty crazy here," she said. "There's legions of monsters moving east. They're mostly going through California, though, so you don't have to deal with so much. The Argo two is coming along nice, it should be done on time."

"Oh that explains the lack of monsters," I said. "And it's good to hear about the ship."

"So you wanted me to get these records to you?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Yes please, and I need them as soon as possible." I said.

She pulled out her laptop and scrolled through it a bit. I heard an explosion in the back; her brothers probably blew something up again. "We can get them to you today for five drachmas, and tomorrow for three," she said, ignoring them.

"How much is in my account?" I asked.

"Twenty five," came the answer after a pause.

"I'll take them today, thanks," I said.

"So five drachmas out of your account," she said, clicking a few buttons.

"And no more than five," I fake threatened her.

"Absolutely not," she said, making her eyes wide. "I may be a good thief, but you're scary."

I thanked her for her help and ended the message. While I pulled onto the highway, I tried to make sense of everything. What was she talking about when she said the children of death? I had a feeling it was a short time before world war two. The children of death could be the children of Hades. The war was a long one, with the children of Zeus and Poseidon going against the children of Hades, and everyone else picked sides.

I spent most of the day in Billy's house. I saw Jake in the morning, but he had to run around as a wolf to keep tabs on Vicky. Charlie stopped by to watch a game, and I was kept busy trying to track down Alice with Charlie's laptop he lent me. All I had was that the Sylvester Willard Hospital had shut down in the mid-sixties, and was now an apartment complex. Records were hard to come by, especially since back then everything was paper copies, and a majority of the information wasn't transferred to digital copies.

I did find her death certificate, and saved it to print out later. I also found out that the baby was her little sister who had a daughter who was still alive. I also had homework to do, of course, but that could wait until later in spring break. And by later, I meant the Sunday night before I had to go back to school.

I did take some walks along the beach though, and tracked down a couple of stray telchines. They were easy; they only made weapons, and didn't know how to use them all that much. I did have trouble brushing off the white dust though, and when Jake asked after I took my sweatshirt off, I quickly lied about trying to bake a cake for Charlie in the early morning. He looked at me weird, but didn't comment.

Tuesday night, Sam and Emily came over to Billy's, and Emily brought a chocolate cake that I could almost feel clogging my arteries.

"This, Meda, is how you make a cake," Jacob said with his mouth full.

"What?" Charlie asked.

"A couple days ago I tried making that cake, remember?' I asked, sending him a look that said 'play along or else.'

"Oh yeah," Charlie said. "It was in the trash before I came home."

I rolled my eyes dramatically and asked Jake about any other mechanical projects he wanted to take on. He said he wanted to fix up another car or quad if he had time, and we chatted about that for a while. We eventually went out back to the garage and sat in the car, killing time. Jacob sat in the driver's seat, and I could really see that the crazy schedule was getting to him. He had dark circles under his eyes, and moved slowly due to exhaustion.

"You should get some sleep, you know," I said. "It isn't good for you to be awake all the time."

"I'll get around to it," he sighed. He reached over and squeezed my hand. I squeezed back, giving him a small smile. He was doing so much for me. His skin was also boiling hot.

"Is that normal?" I asked him.

"The heat?" he asked with a grin. "Yeah, we run about one oh eight normally. Cold doesn't bother me."

"Do you wanna build a snowman?" I asked him with an evil grin.

"Meda, sheesh, and no!" he said, dropping my hand. We cracked up at that. After a pause I asked another question.

"And you heal fast too, right? Like Paul did?"

"Oh yeah, it's awesome, wanna see?" he reached for a pocketknife.

"Nah," I said. "And what about being so big, is that why you're all worried about Quil?"

"Yeah," Jake said. He sounded really sad. "And his grandfather said that he can fry an egg on his forehead. It won't be long. Sometimes it just builds and builds. But if you get upset it can trigger it early." I nodded to show I was interested. "That's why it took me so long, I wasn't upset. I was happy. Still am, actually. It's just that after that movie, Billy said I looked weird, and I snapped. I practically ripped his head off!" he sounded scared. It must be scary, I thought, to almost hurt someone you love so badly. That's what happened to Sam. "It's better now, now that you know. It was hard, keeping a secret from you."

I tried not to squirm at the mention of keeping secrets. "What's the hardest part?" I asked, trying to keep my mind off my secret.

"Feeling out of control," he said after a bit of thought. "Like I could hurt someone. With Sam, Emily was standing too close for a second when he lost his temper. And it comes easy to me, the phasing. Does that make me less human?"

"Aren't you a bit young to have existential crisis?" I joked.

He laughed.

"But what did you mean, it comes easy?" I asked.

"Ephraim Black was my grandfather, and Quil Ataera was my mom's grandfather," he said. "Quil's my second cousin. They and Levi Uley were in the last pack. It's passed down through blood. I didn't have a chance."

"That sucks," I said sympathetically. "But what's the best part?" I asked, trying to distract him.

"The speed," he said, perking up. "We caught Laurent, so that's something, right?"

"It sure is," I laughed.

"So tell me something I don't know, about the vampires. How did you stand being around them, didn't it creep you out?" he sounded genuinely curious.

"It wasn't hard," I said, remembering. "Percy liked them too. They were good people, you know. They did fight against their natures, isn't that good enough?"

Jacob nodded reluctantly, but still didn't look like he believed me. "what about other extra stuff?" He asked.

"Hm?" I asked.

"Like the mind reader, could anyone else do extra stuff?" he asked.

"Alice, she's the tiny girl with short hair, could see the future," I said slowly. "She could see possibilities, and a decision you made could change the future."

"That's actually pretty cool," he said.

"And Jasper, the blond boy, could kinda control emotions, like, calm someone down," I said. "I think Paul could use his help in that department."

Charlie eventually called me to go home, and the next day I was back in La Push. I found all I could on Alice, it turns out that her name was Mary Brandon, and she was supposed to be the oracle, but the record showed that she died, and Laura Diemer was 'gifted' instead. She really lucked out, I guessed. Who'd want to spend eternity as a mummy cursed by Hades?

I couldn't find out anything else on Alice, and I guessed it didn't matter; she wasn't coming back anyway, so I did something I swore never to do.

I finished my homework before the due date.

There was nothing else I could do, really. The math and English and science was all exceptionally boring, especially because I wanted to be out there killing Vicky myself. And it was awkward too, because Billy was there, and I felt like I should try to make conversation with him, but at the same time whenever I tried, we just ended up discussing the weather and leaving it at that.

I tried hanging out at Emily's one day, and it was alright at first. She was always cooking or gardening or cooking and cooking. She complained about the increased appetites, but I could tell it didn't bother her much. We had a short conversation about my camp, she saw the beads on the necklace, and seemed impressed about the fact that I could shoot. That was the only sport I could really talk about, everyone else would be too freaked out to know that I could decapitate or skewer dummies and monsters.

Then Sam came back and all I saw was that they were in luuuuv and it was kinda gross. No, scratch that, it was really gross. Why did they always have to smash faces when someone was clearly in the room? It made me want to heave up my delicious snack Emily was kind enough to offer me.

The homework didn't keep me for long enough, and I was left wandering the beach worrying about monsters and Percy and all sorts of other stuff, like graduation and ships with dragons on it, and the fact that my dad was out in the woods with a crazy homicidal vampire on the loose. I sincerely hoped the romans were treating him well, or else I would declare a one woman war on them myself.

Jacob found me like that, staring out at the ocean, kicking my shoe against the rocks absentmindedly.

"What you need is some fun," he announced, smiling even though he was tired.

"Fun," I repeated, smiling back. It was hard not to, the past weeks hadn't dulled my fondness for him.

"Yes," he said, a glimmer forming in his eye. "And I know exactly what." he pointed to the cliffs excitedly and grinned.

"You want me to jump off a cliff with you?" I asked, rolling my eyes but secretly excited. The water would be nice to go back to; maybe I could spend a couple hours there recharging batteries.

"Don't you want to?" he asked, looking and sounding unsure.

I looked at the cliff and smiled. "It's a date."


	14. Chapter 14

**So sorry for the delay! For some reason, whenever I got near the computer my mom would send the evil eye my way. It's a miracle I have this finished, actually. **

**Super big news, I've started a forum about this book series. here it is-**

**forum/The-Andromeda-Jackson-Series/155798/**

**If anyone is willing to be a moderator, and have experience with this, please feel free to contact me. I usually just post stories, so I'm not too good at the other stuffs. I also have a poll, and if you could take some time out of your day to answer it, it would help me a lot.**

**Happy reading!**

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"Won't it be cold?" I asked curiously as we made our way to my truck.

"Yeah, but the weather said it'll be warmer tomorrow, don't forget to bring an extra change of clothes so Charlie won't freak," he said as he climbed into the passenger seat and quickly fell asleep, snoring softly.

"Okay," I said. I wouldn't need the change, but oh well.

He napped on the way to Billy's and I dropped him off and drove back to Forks. I hoped he got more sleep soon; he always had dark circles under his eyes. I did feel bad about putting him through this, but I just couldn't force myself to tell him. And even if I did, I highly doubted he'd let me help out anyways. Boys were like that, I noticed. They always thought they had all the right answers and could do anything by their big, strong selves. But I was also having those weird dreams again, about the Cullen's house. I was always standing on the joint where the two staircases came together, and the house was empty.

But a woman kept going on and on and on about the alliance in the homeland. And I was holding my trident, which was downright weird. They weren't incredibly frequent, just a few minutes before I woke up every couple of days or so. So I did what any demigod will do when confronted with a situation they didn't know how to get out of.

At first I waited until something would show me what the hell was up. And then I decided I was being stupid and confronted my dream as best as I could.

I didn't go back to Charlie's right away after dropping Jake off; instead I went to the Cullen's house to see if I could find anything out about the dreams. I followed the roads to the best of my abilities, but it felt off, and at first I thought it was because I had forgotten the way. Then I realized it was because I hadn't seen another car. Nobody was behind me for a second the entire way, and nobody was going the other way on the two lane road. Forks wasn't a large town, I knew that. But it was weird to not see one other person. I had a funny feeling going down the back of my neck the entire way, and pulled out my bow from the back of the truck and put it on the passenger seat. I turned off the radio so I could pay attention better.

But was this my dream coming true?

The Cullen house had to be empty, and the dream always had it empty. But my trident was under the bed at Charlie's house, so it couldn't be.

"Five more minutes," I told myself. I'll give myself five more minutes before I turn around and go home to Charlie. I checked the clock on the dashboard and started counting down. I also picked up my speed, pushing the car to fifty miles an hour. The five minutes would have to be worth it.

I saw the Cullen's empty house with three minutes to spare. I parked the car and turned off the engine, waiting for something to happen. It didn't. I strapped the quiver of arrows to my right thigh, and counted the arrows. I had a variety of twenty, more than enough for anything that could happen. Within reason, of course. Picking up the bow, I loaded it and climbed almost silently out of the truck and made my way to the front door.

I slipped a bobby pin out of my hair and jiggled the lock until it opened. Foster care was a good teacher when it came to picking locks. Surprisingly, the inside was untouched since they left. I supposed that potential vandals were just too lazy to come all the way out into the woods. There was no furniture; just the empty rooms and the huge floor to ceiling windows letting me see a beautiful view of the forest. I moved quickly and silently through the house to make sure everything was okay; thankfully I'd been there enough that I knew which floorboards and stairs were prone to creaking. Esme had always complained about them. It was easy to shove the small pain I felt at the memory of her away.

I was puzzled at not finding anything. Then I went to the back of the house on the first floor and saw that a window had been smashed in, the glass lying around on the floor. The window had been broken with such force that shards of glass were even stuck to the wall. There was a light breeze coming in through the giant hole in the glass, and I felt that funny feeling on the back of my neck again. My hand was on my bow string, pulling it halfway back. I crept over to the window and stepped out gingerly, avoiding the part of the glass that was still standing. I should be the poster child of breaking and entering.

There were sets of footprints going into the forest; they were huge, about two and a half feet in length. My stomach dropped.

"Please no please no," I prayed to anyone that was listening. It couldn't be the giants; they couldn't have woken up yet. And the gods were super unhelpful, and I needed them to kill a giant.

I followed the footprints quietly, and went deeper into the woods. I heard some angry yelling up ahead but couldn't hear exactly what was being said.

"Hey!" I said, knocking on the truck of the nearest tree. "Help me up!"

"Hm?" the dryad said sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

I resisted the urge to slap her. "Help. Me. Up." I said through gritted teeth.

Something about my facial expression probably told her to wake up quickly. A branch bent down and I held on as it slowly raised me until I was about fifteen feet above ground. At that vantage point I could see everything that was happening. Laistrygonian Giants, just my luck. But I was lucky it wasn't the real giants. Eight feet tall and heavily tattooed, they stood in a loose circle holding clubs and saying stuff while waving around aforementioned clubs. I counted five from what I could see, but I assumed there was one or two more because it seemed like they were talking between more than five of them.

I planned out my route of attack. I'd have to shoot at least two of them from this point, and I assumed that by the time I shot the first two the others would realize what happened. I'd have to jump to the tree behind me and get one more, two if I was lucky, and then I'd ditch the bow and drop down to the ground and attack with my knives. I was going to count to ten before I started anything.

"I SMELL A HERO!" one giant roared suddenly and looked around. He made eye contact with me.

Or I could just attack now and see what happened. That sounded like a good idea.

I grabbed two arrows and shot them off before they could move. They both exploded into white dust which only seemed to make the others angry. I took out the one that looked at me and the one next to him. The other five roared and started to my tree. I jumped to the one behind me and shot two more-I got lucky.

"This is for Babycakes!" one yelled while charging toward me.

"Oh my gods what have you been smoking? Go back through California!" I yelled at them before shooting the one that wanted to let Babycakes eat me. They always wanted to eat heroes, and I had been complimented many times over the years on how delicious I smelled and would taste. I was disappointed that they didn't spend more time threatening me; it was always funny when they tried. Jumping out of the tree at the insistence of the dryad who didn't want her tree damaged, I nocked another arrow, and faced the last two.

Except that I couldn't find them. They had disappeared completely.

I froze, my bow pulled and ready to shoot. But I couldn't hear anything. There were no footprints either. I waited for a few minutes, breathing quietly and feeling like I'd snap at the next noise, but nothing happened. I let the bowstring loosen, and quickly followed the footprints back to the Cullens house, jumped through the window and went back into my truck.

Pro-my dream hadn't come true, yet.

Con- two cannibalistic giants were on the loose and it was my fault for not killing them sooner.

I slammed the door on the way in and saw Charlie in the kitchen thumbing through the phone book.

"You do realize that nobody actually uses those anymore," I said.

"I just forgot the number to the pizza place, pizza is alright with you?" he asked before looking at me. Something in my tone of voice must have tipped him off. I was still carrying my bow and quiver and was still very, very angry. Although I was more angry at me than anyone else. His eyes widened a bit at my sour expression. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm not dead yet," I replied shortly. "Pizza's fine, I'll be down in a bit, okay?" He nodded and I went upstairs to put my stuff back and comb my hair. and watched basketball until the pizza came. Thankfully, the delivery boy was a mortal, a sophomore from the high school instead of a cannibal. I didn't tell Charlie about cliff diving, even though he knew I was 99% invincible, he wouldn't approve.

* * *

My truck was loud, which is why Jake always came out of his house and greeted me when I went to La Push in the mornings, but he didn't that morning. I assumed he was sleeping, poor kid. He was starting to look like a raccoon. And I did not mean that as a compliment. I was also wound up pretty tightly, a result of the giants escaping.

"Hello?" I asked as I walked into the small house. Billy was at the table eating cereal. "Is Jake sleeping?" I asked.

He put his spoon down and sighed. "Jared, Embry and Paul came across a fresh trail early this morning, Sam and Jake are helping, and Sam hopes that they can end this."

I was irrationally worried for Jacob. I knew how dangerous vampires could be. But, I also knew how dangerous Jacob and his pack could be.

"Oh. Okay," I said quietly. "Sam knows what he's doing, you know," Billy assured me, an undefinable emotion in his voice. "She's just trying to get to you."

"But how do they know what they're doing? They've only done this once before," I asked.

"We take our jobs seriously," Billy said. "The information had been passed down from father to son for generations."

I nodded. "Okay," I replied, processing the information. "It's weird, though, that it's genetic," I said.

Billy chuckled. "I guess weird is one word for it," he replied. "Feel free to stay on tribe lands; just don't wander off, okay? I don't think you'd want to spend all day with an old man," he chuckled.

I smiled gratefully. "I'll probably go down to the beach like normal," I said, smiling again before I left for my truck.

The clouds pushed down the sky, and I took my sweatshirt off, it was muggy. For the first time I was truly annoyed at the noise of my truck, I wanted a quieter one. I wondered if this was how Percy always felt, his mind going a mile a minute all the time. To calm down I took a couple of deep breaths and walked down into the sea, letting the waves lap over my bare feet. Sea water was funny, it calmed me down and amped me up at the same time. I rolled up my jeans and waded in until the water was up to my shins.

Then I felt that funny feeling on the back of my neck. Again.

I spun around and tensed, pulling out my pencils but not letting the blade out. I heard my breaths slow down, and my eyes scanned the shore. I rolled the legs of my jeans down again and put my shoes on.

Making up my mind, I walked quickly to the woods, and the likelihood of finding monsters there was good. Didn't Daphne say the monsters were going through California? When I went further into the woods, I cracked a grin. Vampires and werewolves were a bit unnerving, but Greek monsters? Bring it on. On a few trees here and there, were huge gashes in the trunks. Claw marks, maybe?

"Come out come out wherever you are!" I whispered slightly evilly.

There was even a convenient trail in the dirt for me. How kind of them. I did pull out my knives then, so I could kill whatever needed killing. The gashes in the trees became more frequent, following the trail in the dirt.

"We could kill the one here before she knew what was coming!" a voice said in a horrific French accent ahead of me.

"Seriously?" I whispered. "Mother Gaea would reward us beyond our wildest dreams!" another chimed in.

There were murmurs of agreement. Ten? Fifteen maybe? I dropped an F-bomb. Of course Gaea would be in on this.

"Really, people, really?" I asked loudly and stalked up to them. They were Manticores, with the faces of people, bodies of lions and scorpion tails that shoot spikes. "And I use the term 'people' really loosely. You could have just come up to me instead of plotting like some stupid villains in a horror movie. And for crying out loud, do you really have to have those stupid French accents?"

They did look surprised, and I guessed I had about one, maybe two seconds before they attacked. I counted eight of them, and some did look like younger Manticores.

"Attack her!" one older one shouted.

I had to doge a few spikes, and gave the one Manticore next to me a few good whacks with my knives before he exploded. That was the hard thing about them; they had this body armor that was difficult to punch through. I could get lucky and stab them in the face, but that was unlikely. The spikes kept coming, and I kept dodging. I attacked the older ones, and if possible, tried to get the younger one to accidentally put a spike in the older ones. It worked once, one shot a spike with terrible aim, and the Manticore that was hit screeched and exploded.

"Thanks dude!" I said before putting a knife in his neck. But the thing was there had been eight, and I had only killed three-no- four counting the one I just finished. I needed to hurry myself up. So I ran, trying to think of something as I dodged trees and poisonous spikes. Just as I was going to turn around and continue fighting, I realized something. The ground was sloping up. I was going uphill. The trees cleared, and I could feel the pull of the ocean calling to me. So I did what any demigod would do.

I flung myself off the cliff with four Manticores following me down, screaming at me in their French accents.


End file.
